Tiamat's Fury
by seinka
Summary: Beritra and Tiamat have gone silent. The Empyrean lords put behind most of their disputes and the relationship between Asmodians and Elyos have improved. But some are concerned this is just silence before the storm. The blow Chellia dealt to Tiamat wasn't something the Dragon lord would just overlook. Sixth of The Godstone Tales.
1. Chapter 01

"Magic mirror, I want to see, show me Tiamat, I command thee," Beritra's voice slowly echoed trough his room. Since he got the message with the ice seal, he ceased his efforts to get back whom the daevas stolen from him. He sent token troops to Sarpan from time to time to remind them he hasn't forgotten and to gather intel the mirror couldn't provide, but other than that he focused on strenghtening his position in Katalam and Danaria. And monitoring the two people, who have been huge pain in his side lately.

The mirror's surface rippled and displayed large hall with something like smaller version of a Dredgion in the middle. Tiamat was standing right next to it, dressed in her rich red robes with a hood over her blonde hair, and commanding both, her own drakan and humans in uniforms of Lepharists. Taking over Israphel's private army after his death was a smart move. Currently she was focused on the daevas, but Beritra didn't doubt she'll return to the search for Hyperion as soon as she's done with her revenge for the stolen artifact. Depending on how long that will take and on the outcome, he will either consider her a threat or not. For now sending few spies and occasional checks through the mirror were enough.

The other person, however, was completely another matter. His spies were unable to find any useful traces and images from the mirror were clouded or confusing. On top of that he heard about some discord with Tiamat long time ago. If it was true, this was a perfect ally for him, but he needed to reach her first.

"Mirror, mirror, I have to know, what is she doing, the queen of snow?"

~ x ~

"A festival?" a red-haired sorceress raised her eyes from the paper she was reading and looked at her superior. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I am serious," Lady of Wisdom smiled politely. "Do you have any questions?"

"Why? I mean... we're still at war with the Balaur. Why do you care about something as pointless as a festival?"

"Occasional festivals and celebrations are good for morale. We stopped fighting with the Elyos, large portion of the battlefields have calmed down. Also both Balaur lords, Tiamat and Beritra, have gone inactive for a few months already. I'm aware it's the silence before the storm, that's why we have to use this time to the fullest. And it's almost solstice, we had festivals around this time every year, before the Elyos and Balaur appeared. And even after that we had them from time to time."

"Fine. But why me? I've never done anything like this."

"Then it's time to learn it. The decree you're holding grants you full authority in all the matters of the festival. Performers, shop stands, places, cleaning, accomodation for important guests. Don't forget to invite some Elyos nobles this year too, it would seem appropriate and it might shut some annoying mouths for a time being. If you have no further questions, tell my secretary to take you to your desk, there already are documents with the important information and instructions you might need."

"My desk?" she looked surprised.

"Yes, you'll be working mostly from Pandaemonium and it would be inappropriate to disturb your family with messengers, so for now you'll have your own desk in the shared office."

"But... it's insane, I... I can't do it. And how can I work from Pandaemonium, I have all my things in the Beacon..." she tried to protest. After the _incident_ with her mother she didn't like staying in Pandaemonium. And this hint... the Lady knew about it, for someone who paid at least a bit of attention to the affairs of the nobles it was impossible to not know. Was it supposed to be an indirect suggestion to reconcile with her mother?

"It's an order, Shienar," lady Lumiel scowled. "You don't have to start right now, if you're confident enough, you can slack off in the Beacon for half of the time. But you will get the things done by the deadline. Understood?"

"Yes, my lady," she bowed and left her lady's office. No matter how annoying the order was, it was still an order. And there have been ways how to stay in Pandaemonium without returning to the Vanahal district.

~ x ~

"I was wondering who that new person everyone is talking about is and it's my wonderful sister," at the beginning of the second week of her work on the festival preparations, a handsome man clad in armor more ornate than functional stopped her and greeted her with a broad smile.

"Hello, Illian," she looked at him in surprise. "Are you participating in the festival too?"

"Haha, no, I just thought I saw you, so I went closer to confirm if it was you or not. You haven't changed much since your last visit."

"And what do you need of me?" she asked warily. He was her brother, but given how well her last _family_ visit went, she suspected there was more than just warm greeting.

"What about lunch? I know you're busy, but even you have to eat something. Come, I'm paying."

"Ah... alright, lead the way," Shien smiled and let her brother pick a restaurant, not too classy, but nice and with a good food.

"So, how you've been doing?" Illian asked after they ordered and the waiter brought them drinks.

"I'm... fine. Not awesome super fine, but I'm kept busy with that festival thing," Shien replied politely.

"You don't sound fine, but for the moment I'll believe you. You know you can tell me when something worries you, right? Where are you staying, anyway? I haven't seen you home."

"Haha, funny," she grimaced. "I've rented a studio in Pernon. It's not big, but I use it for sleep only, the bureaucracy haunts me almost non-stop. You wouldn't believe how many things are needed for such festival and how many forms one has to fill for each one of them. Not to mention the people! Some of them are so dense I think they're doing it on purpose."

"I've done the paperwork of just changing a legion, I think I would believe," Illian smiled. "And now when we've done the pleasantries, have you spoken to mother lately?"

"Ah, I wondered what was the real reason you showed up. No, I haven't. I have no reason to. I presume she told you what happened, so this shouldn't surprise you."

"Yes, right, the Elyos fiancé. How is he doing?"

Shien stopped in the middle of movement and returned her glass onto the table without drinking from it. She knew he was going to ask something like this, but still she couldn't be prepared enough.

"He wasn't real, right?" her brother continued. "You just grabbed some random guy..."

"He's dead," Shien gritted her teeth. "Vanished. Killed by the Balaur."

"Oh," Illian was genuinely surprised by the change in the tone of her voice. "I'm sorry, Shien. I really thought you weren't serious back then. I had no idea... I'm sorry."

"I... appreciate that. But you were right, it was nowhere near serious back then. But it could have been, if we got enough time. Shade was... Never mind, I'm sure you don't want to hear such details."

"You know, mother misses you," he said after short pause. "You should talk with her."

"She misses me? Hardly," Shien shook her head. "And no, I'm not gonna talk with her and beg her to take me back so she could throw more _potential suitors_ , whom I'm not interested in, at me."

"That's why you should talk with her. And I mean really _talk_ , I want to believe you two are able to understand each other."

"No, Illian. Please, don't ask me that. I'm not interested in listening how she's happy about finding out that someone I cared about died. _Again_."

At that moment the waiter brought their food, so she blinked quickly a few times to suppress tears and politely thanked.

"Could we... talk about something else? A weather, perhaps?" she suggested when the waiter left.

"I hope it's not _that_ bad so I would have to discuss weather with my sister."

"I hope not! But you can tell me about your days with the Fangs."

The rest of their lunch was quite calm, mostly discussing Illian's entrance tests for the most prestigious legion in Asmodae and the hard training and rookie assignments that followed. And despite the initial distress Shien was leaving the restaurant a bit more at peace than she's been in the last few days.

~ x ~

The visitors and staff of the Sanctum's Healing house got an unexpected surprise when the Lord of Freedom himself stepped into the hall and looked around. They were used to occasional visits of Lady of Life or Light, but others came very rarely, almost not at all. He asked one of the nurses for direction, then proceeded further into the building. After few wrong turns he finally found whom he was looking for.

"Hello, May," he said with a broad smile.

"Hi, Vaizel, what brings you here?" she looked at him and smiled too.

"Maybe I should ask what brings _you_ here? I just wanted to know how you're doing and since you weren't at home..."

"Oh, please stop, I'm not ill," May frowned. Since she asked Kaisinel to create an illusion for her, so no one would notice her pregnancy, Vaizel was always worried about her health. It was nice, but really annoying.

"Of course, I know, not ill," he laughed. "But still, you should rest..."

"I'm fine and I rest more than enough. I should be out there, helping people, but instead I have to stay here, in safety of Sanctum. So please, stop acting like I'm about to die."

"When is the... gift supposed to..."

"In a month. Or so," May sighed. "Vaizel, don't worry. I'll just finish checking this ledger book and I'll go home. I'm being as careful as I can and there are at least one or two guards watching constantly over me. I'll be fine."

"Okay then, but be sure you'll get enough rest. Oh, and I almost forgot, I just wanted to tell you, that I sent Zikel an invitation to Sanctum, it's quite a long time since there was some decent party here."

"You did what?"

"But don't worry, I bet he'll refuse, he hates Elysea, after all," the Lord of Freedom grinned. "Unless he misses you too much. If I were him, I definitely would."

"Vaizel, you're such a... if he comes, what am I supposed to tell him? What if... what if he'll get angry?"

"And what if he'll get happy, hm?"

"Happy? You think..."

"I don't _know_! And as much as I hate telling others what to do, I think he should hear _that_ from you, not from some random messenger, who will carry the happy news to Asmodae next month. Just take care of yourself, okay?"

"Maybe you're right," she said. "I should have already told him. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Okay, I'm out then, this place creeps me out," Vaizel laughed and left her with the books.

May tried to continue with the checking, but the thoughts of Zikel's visit were too distracting, so she left the Healing house and headed home, followed by two personal guards that Nezekan appointed to her, after she told him and lady Ariel about her pregnancy. Kaisinel insisted on it, when he came with the news that there was no such law that would forbid two Empyrean lords to love each other. Since then she was getting quite often visits from Vaizel or Nezekan aksing about her health and panicking in general. And now, if Zikel comes here and finds out, what will happen? Will he panic too? Or will he be happy?

"My lady," her servant bowed when she entered her house. "There was a messenger few moments ago, he said he had an urgent letter for you," she said and handed her a rolled scroll.

"A letter?" May looked surprised. _Was it from Zikel?_ "Thank you, Mirri, please, bring me something light to eat."

After the servant left, she sat into her favourite chair and opened the letter. It wasn't from Zikel and the content definitely didn't please her. Castor, commander of the Eracus desert garrison, requested help with the Fountain of Life, as it suddenly stopped working. That was bad. Really bad. She was there about two months ago to check all the Fountains and ensure they were functional, there should have been anough time for her to give birth to her child and recover from it, until they required her presence again. But death of lord Israphel didn't mean that Lepharists would stop with their activities and if they broke the Fountain again, she had to fix it. Lives of too many people depended on it.

When her servant brought the food, she just drank a cup of tea and took an apple and prepared for departure again.

"I'm going to Eltnen, if someone will be looking for me, tell them I should be back before evening," she told Mirri and left her house. Two guards joined her as faithful armored shadows the moment she set foot on the street.

"Ehm, my lady," one of the guards politely coughed when she asked a captain of a supply ship to take them from Sanctum to Eltnen and back later. "Lord Nezekan strongly recommended you to not leave Sanctum..."

"Yes, I know, Wolf, but lives are in danger."

"Wouldn't it be better to use a teleporter then? It's faster and safer."

"No," may shook her head sadly. "You can go ahead, if you want, but I need to use the ship."

"I'll stay with you, my lady," Wolf gave up. The other guard, a gladiator named Hathreo, silently nodded.

The captain was surprised to see a Seraphim lady wanting to travel in ordinary ship, but no matter how strange her wish was, she was the Lady and he more than happily obeyed. In addition to the payment, he'll get stories to share among his fellow captains when they meet in a tavern.

~ x ~

Zikel crumpled up a letter and tossed it into flames. Official invitation to Sanctum to celebrate the alliance sent by Vaizel sounded more like getting drunk and being flashy about it. The drinking part wasn't the problem, it was the place. He has never been in Sanctum, he had only seen pictures drawn by some capable spies, but he already hated that city. For him there was no worse place in the whole world than the Elyos capital. The only reason why he still kept thinking about it, was the Lady of Life. How long it has been since he last saw her? Five months? Why didn't she visit him since then? In her last letter she wrote she missed him dearly, but she couldn't leave Sanctum. And didn't mention why. He wanted to wait until whatever has kept her there would allow her to leave, but it was taking too long. Way too long. And Zikel wasn't known for his patience. He looked around the room, as if the surroundings could give him answer, but everything remained the same. Suddenly he cursed, got up and headed to the teleporter.

"Kamar," he said simply. Even though they were allies for more than half a year, they still didn't trust each other to have teleports connecting the two capitals.

~ x ~

The travel from Sanctum to the Eltnen fortress didn't take as long as they expected and flight transporter could carry them into desert garrison almost immediately. Once they landed, centurion Axelion hurried to greet them.

"Good afternoon, my lady," he bowed respectfully. "What brings you here?"

"I came because of the Fountain, can you tell me what happened?"

"Fountain, my lady?" the centurion looked confused. "Did something happen to it?"

"I got letter from general Castor saying it stopped working."

"I was there not an hour ago and it looked alright," Axelion frowned. "But maybe the general knows more than I do, please follow me, I'll take you to him."

"Thank you," May smiled and followed the soldier to the leadership tent. General Castor was looking at a map of Eltnen and comparing it with some reports, when they entered.

"Lady May? Welcome, what can I do for you?" he asked.

"I got a letter from you stating that the Fountain of Life stopped working..."

"No, I've never sent such letter. The Fountain is fine since you visited us two months ago and we're guarding all the Fountains non-stop. They are all safe and sound for now," general Castor shook his head.

"Could someone send it in your name? Misinterpretting something you said?" May was puzzled.

"No, I gave no orders about the Fountain, other than guarding it," the general replied with certainity.

"Then... who sent it?" she looked around helplessly.

"No one from here, my lady, I can assure you," Castor frowned. "Maybe someone wanted to lure you here, everyone knows you care about the Fountains and you wouldn't leave one broken."

"Lure me? Here? Why?" _Could it be... no, no one should know. But what if they do? What if someone is after my baby?_

"You're the youngest of the Seraphim lords, you were injured in Kamar, it wouldn't be surprising if the Balaur or Lepharists thought you're weak, my lady," Wolf explained. It was obvious and it might sound rude, but to him, lady May was more confused today than ever. "It might be safer to return to Sanctum."

"You're right, I'm the easiest target," she admitted. "But I cannot hide in the safety of Sanctum forever, that would... I have duties to Elysea. I'll check the Fountain to be sure it's alright and then we'll return. Thank you, general, for your time."

"Axelion will accompany you to provide you anything you need, my lady."

"Thank you," May smiled and with the three soldiers she left the tent. The Fountain of Life was just outside the garrison, just several steps from the entrance. May opened her arms and sent the aether to determine the state of the Fountain. After she scanned every part of it, she released her spell and sighed in relief.

"The Fountain is alright," she smiled. "Let's go back to Sanctum."

"As you wish, my lady," Axelion and Wolf bowed and wanted to return to the garrison, but Hathreo was unmovingly staring at the sky and frowning.

"Hey, guys, what's that? That's not supposed to be there, right?" he pointed at two growing dots. The others looked in that direction.

"Prepare for defense," May said suddnely. "It's the Balaur!"

At that moment alarm bells started ringing in the garrison and soldiers and mages gathered on the walls. The two dots, that became smaller versions, or parts, of Dredgion, flashed with light. May with other casters raised a shield above them, but they were a split second too late. The shot from the ship hit the garrison and destroyed the flight transporter's station. They heard another explosion from the outside.

"They hit the Fountain!" someone yelled and a wave of panic ran across the soldiers. But few commands from Castor gave everyone something to do and the veterans could keep the young soldiers from running around or trembling in fear.

One of the mini-Dredgions landed not far from the Fountain's ruins and a person emerged from it. Some soldiers recognised her immediately. Dark red dress, long blonde hair and mostly the fact she was able to stand inside of the aetheric field without showing any sign of inconvenience were unmistakable.

"Good afternoon, dear Elyos," Tiamat's voice was loud and clear. "If lady May would be so kind and talk with me for a moment, I would appreciate it."

A silence fell upon the garrison and everyone looked at their Lady, who was standing in the middle of the settlement and channeling aether into the shield.

"However, if she refuses, I'll be forced to unleash a full scale attack on this piece of nowhere."

May stopped glowing and looked at Castor.

"General, how battle-ready are the soldiers in the garrison?" she asked quietly.

"They are well trained, but a lot of them was relocated to Katalam and Inggison. We don't have enough numbers, not to mention the aether. Because of the temple it's stronger than in most of Elysea, but even with it not all of us can fly. And we know nothing about the defense of those Dredgions," he summarised the situation. "But they must be weakened, we could try direct assault on Tiamat and get her before she escapes."

"That might be exactly what she wants, but keep the plan as a backup. Do you have some teleportation scrolls?"

"Yes, my lady."

"Good, send a messenger to Sanctum or Eltnen fortress to request reinforcements. Someone has probably noticed this already, but it won't hurt if they know what they'll be walking into," May ordered. "I'll go talk with her and try to stall her. I fully trust you with leading the defense."

"As you wish, my lady," Castor bowed.

May stepped out from the safety of the shield accompanied by Wolf and Axelion. Sorrow and guilt struck her, when she saw the ruins of the Fountain, it will take too many days to repair it.

"What do you wish to discuss, Tiamat?" she asked.

"I came to offer you a deal," the Fifth Dragon lord smiled. "As you can see, we can now enter your precious aetheric field unharmed. Just one order separates me from killing everyone in that makeshift fortress behind you."

"And what is stopping you from giving it?" May asked with a conversational tone, but deep down she was worried that Tiamat wasn't bluffing.

"Right to the point? I like that. If you come with me now and become my honoured guest, I'll spare those worms you care about so much."

The Lady of Life had to think for a moment before answering: "And why would you possibly wanted to treat me?"

"I have only your best health in mind, of course. Don't you think you gained too much weight lately? Although I must admit you got yourself a nice little illusion to cover it. Is it yours? Or Kaisinel's?" Tiamat smiled as innocence itself.

May was struck. She knew. Tiamat knew about her baby. There was no doubt now the letter was fake, someone found out about her most guarded secret and passed that information to the Balaur.

"My lady, are you alright?" Wolf asked with concern, he noticed she became pale once she heard those words, although he couldn't find any sense in them.

"Yes, yes, Wolf, I'm fine," she took a deep breath and glared at Tiamat. "Why?"

"One such brat was enough to humiliate me. I will not allow such thing to happen again. The choice is yours, _lady May_ , you can refuse my offer and risk that precious life of yours along with all of those with you, or you can come with me and save them all. And you should choose quickly, my patience is running thin."


	2. Chapter 02

Zikel stepped out of the portal in Sanctum and immediately closed his eyes. The searing light was really extreme here. He gave himself several seconds to adapt and then looked around. Pretty much everyone in the teleporter's area have already noticed him and were waiting what he's going to do. He didn't disappoint them with waiting and picked one of the bystanders at random.

"Where's May?" he asked sharply. After few scoldings from Azphel even he admitted that the Elyos wouldn't know if he said _Alia_.

"Eeh, ehm..." the man, who looked like human in middle-thirties, was apparently scared. "She's... at the Healing house... or at home... she rarely goes outside..."

"Take me there."

"Eh... I... my lord..."

"For Aion's sake, Zikel, stop scaring him," he heard an annoying voice. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"You sent me an invitation, right?" Zikel turned to Vaizel. "So I'm here. Where's May?"

"Probably at home, but I'm in hurry now. Some weird Balaur ships were spotted in Eltnen, wanna help me with them?" the Lord of Freedom asked as if he was inviting him for a drink, but his face was serious.

"Fine."

"Thanks, man, I'll buy you a drink or two when we get back."

The two lords and handful of soldiers were teleported into Eltnen fortress, which was already buzzing with people preparing for battle.

"Lord Vaizel!" general Telemachus ran towards them. "And... uh... lord Zikel... the Eracus desert garrison is under attack, a messenger teleported from there just a while ago. It's Dragon lord Tiamat herself. Lady May is there helping with defense..."

"May is there?" Vaizel became more then surprised. "Is she insane?"

"And why are _you_ so worried, hm?"

"Don't tell me you're jealous, Zikel, she's... never mind, no time for that. General, I want you to send troops there immediately. Is the flight transporter ready?"

"We can't create the connection, something must have happened on their end," Telemachus reported.

"Fine then send them on foot. We're going ahead," he nodded at Zikel and spread his wings. As Empyrean lords they could fly even when the aether was thin.

"What happened to her?" Zikel caught up without problems.

"You will see when we get there. And pray to Aion we're not too late."

~ x ~

"I refuse your offer," May replied resolutely. "I will not play by your rules."

"As you wish, then," Tiamat's body begun to change.

"Go back to garrison!" the Lady of Life ordered to her bodyguards. But before they could reach the temporary safety of the shield, Wolf suddenly shouted and bumped into May, Axelion raised his shield and stood between them and fiery blast coming from the sky. The energy from the shot dispersed around them, but the soldier cursed and threw away his shield the moment it stopped. Then he cut the straps from his gauntlet and threw that too. The skin on his left forearm was full of blisters and burned like hell, even his templar abilities and magically enhanced shield were not enough to stop the full power of the blast.

"My lady, are you alright?" Wolf asked and tried to help her stand, but she way lying on her side, shaking in fear. She just realised how close she was to lose the child. "My lady? We have to move!"

"Yes, you're right," she whispered with shaking voice and allowed him to help her. It was just few meters to the barrier.

But Tiamat has already finished her transformation.

And she didn't hesitate for a moment and hurled flames at her foes.

May called the aether to form a protective shield, but she was too distracted and scared, it didn't last too long. Just before the fire hit her skin, the snowflake bracelet she got as present form the whole Jeiaparan village, flashed and grew in size to become a fully functional shield. Unfortunately not big enough to cover a whole person, May screamed when the hungry flames engulfed her legs. Finally Tiamat had to take new breath. Several soldiers from the garrison ran towards their Lady and the fallen bodyguards, who didn't have any cover, and dragged them behind the barrier.

"My lady!" several healers ran towards her.

"I'm... I'm fine," May took a deep breath and looked aroung. "I'm sorry, she caught me off guard, please heal Axelion and Wolf, I'll join you in a moment," she took off the burnt remnants of her leggings and shoes and cast a layer of cooling aether on her legs. It still hurt to stand and kneeling was worse, but it wasn't unbearable. She ignored the pain and knelt beside Axelion to help the healers to stabilise him. He had to endure two blasts and was in much worse state than Wolf.

"Take them somewhere safe," she ordered and got up. "Castor, any signs of reinforcements yet?"

"No, my lady," the general shook his head. "And the barrier won't..."

One of the sorcerers who were maintaining the aetheric shield shouted in pain and collapsed. A shot from the ship still hovering above them broke through and hit nearby wooden building. May activated her snowflake bracelet, but was an eyewink too slow. Several glass shards jabbed into her right arm and under her collar bone. In a moment of panic she checked her baby and sighed in relief. Then she released the shield, raised her healthy hand and reformed the aetheric barrier in order to protect everyone, completely forgetting about blood dripping from her injuries.

The soldiers on the battlements could see something really fast and dark hitting Tiamat. The dragon waivered and spat some flames onto her new enemy. Zikel skillfully evaded her attack, lunged forward and slashed across her neck. Few Vaizel's arrows pierced her wing. She roared. With her whole wing she fanned the sand and another breath of flames to create a small-scale sandstorm filled with hellfire. When the smokescreen fell, Zikel only saw the second ship taking off. He ran towards it, but he was stopped by shot ftom the still patrolling vessel above them. He leaped, spread his wings and tried to attack it, but both mini-Dredgions sped up and soon got out of his reach.

Zikel glided down to the garrison and sheathed his sword. The Elyos became clearly nervous, but Vaizel have already started giving orders, so they didn't get many opportunities to panic over his presence here. He walked around until he saw _her_. She was sitting on a crate and some healer was tending to her injured arm.

"Are you alright?" he came closer.

"Zikel," May smiled. "Yes, I'm..." her expression changed and he couldn't tell if she was happy or sad. "Thank you, I'll be fine now," she told the healer and got up. "Zikel, I'm... I'm sorry, I know I should have told you earlier..."

"What's going on?" he scowled.

"Shh, please, let me finish," she took a deep breath and put her left hand onto her necklace. Aether from her fingers dissolved the enchantment Kaisinel put there, the air around her flickered. "I... I will have a baby, Zikel," she said quietly. "Your baby."

Zikel stared at his beloved one, unbelievably switching his gaze between her face and her belly. The revelation was so shocking, he couldn't find any words. He even barely noticed the sudden silence around, when the Elyos saw their Lady revealing such secret.

"Are you alright?" May asked with worry.

"Yes, uh, I..." he hesitantly put his palm on her belly. "And you? You were fighting and injured and... why did you... is the baby alright?"

"Yes, the baby is fine, I... I protected it, I..." she sobbed. "I was so scared. I'm sorry, Zikel, I never wanted to endanger our baby."

"It's alright Alia," he gently and carefully embraced her and kept whispering calming words. "You're safe now, that's important."

"I hate to disturb your undoubtedly lovely reunion, but we have some pressing matters here. You can continue cuddling after you safely get back to Sanctum," Vaizel came to them, accompanied by the garrison commander. "Castor has already briefed me about your visit May, but I'd like to hear it from the beginning. Also give me the letter, I'll have it examined."

"Yes, I... here," May reached into her pocket and handed the letter over. "I went home shortly after you left the Healing house. When I got there, Mirri, my servant, told me that while I was away some messenger brought me this letter. You can read what it says yourself. I knew the Fountain should be alright, I checked it myself, but if it suddenly stopped working, I became worried about sabotage. So I went here to check on the Fountain. I couldn't leave these people without water. I... I'm sorry, I messed up. Castor, you were right, Tiamat wanted me here, she was..." May took a deep breath and concentrated on not shaking. "She was after my baby. How could she know?"

"No one was supposed to know that," Vaizel's face suddenly became pale. "May, return to Sanctum, immediately. How did you even get here? You're not supposed to use teleports."

"I asked one trader to take me on his ship."

"Right, nothing's safer than a trader's ship," Vaizel muttered. "Castor, the flight transporter tower is broken, find some mount for her, she'll depart with the soldiers returning to the Eltnen fortress."

"Yes, my lord."

"Vaizel..." May tried to protest, but he ignored her.

"Zikel, can I assume you'll stay with her until she's somewhere safe?" even in this stretched situation the Lord of Freedom knew better than trying to order him.

"Who do you think I am to leave her alone now?" Zikel grunted.

"Good, you can wait in the command tent, until the transport is ready."

"Vaizel..."

"No, May, you're not staying here. You did a good job with the shield and there weren't many injured. Local healers can take care of it."

"But the Fountain..."

"...is in ruins. We need workers to _build_ it first. That's gonna take some time. Any other suggestions how to pintlessly endanger yourself?"

"But..."

"He's right, dammit, you shouldn't even be here!" Zikel's nerves broke and he raised his voice. "Your safety does matter and don't try to tell me otherwise. Just..." he exhaled, trying to calm down. He didn't want to yell, not at her. "You've been injured, return back and let them take care of you. And the baby. I'm sure this coxcomb is capable of handling the situation here."

"Hey, what?" Vaizel frowned at the label Zikel gave him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," May sobbed. "Of course, you're both right. Let's... Let's go back."

She went to the garrison exit, where a soldier was just trying to put a saddle on a pagatti. Halfway through she suddenly stopped and waivered.

"What's wrong?" Zikel asked with beginning panic.

"I..." she put her palm on her belly and concentrated on a spell. "I think the baby wants to come out. Now."

"What?!"

"You're kidding me, right?" Vaizel overheard her and immediately ran towards them. "Tell me you're _not_ going to give birth right now!"

"I think I am... I'm sorry."

"You said you had about month."

"Yes, it's too early."

"Alright, let's take you to some bed," Zikel took May into his arms and looked around where he could carry her. "Hey, don't just stare you idiot! Tell me where can I take her!"

"My lord, please follow me," a soldier in leather armour bowed and led him into one of the few actual buildings in the settlement. There were two beds inside and the air smelled with cleanliness. "This is and isolation room, we're keeping it clean in case we get someone ill who needs special care. I'll get some healer or midwife," he bowed again and left.

Zikel put her on one of the beds and sat on a chair next to her.

"I'm scared," May said. "It's too early."

"Shhh, it's alright," he held her hand and tried to calm her down. "You'll be fine. Both of you. Have you... picked up a name?"

"No, I.. I thought I had time. I... Zikel," she looked at him and smiled warmly. "Could you pick up the name for our baby?"

"I... what? I don't... will it be boy or girl?"

"We'll find out soon."

A suntanned woman entered the room and put a heavy bag on nearest table.

"My lady," she bowed to May. Then she looked at Zikel, trying to hide her fear and hatred for him. "You need to leave."

"What? No way, I'm not..." he immediately started protesting.

"Zikel, please," May gently touched his hand and smiled at him. "Don't worry, she won't hurt me. Wait outside and pick a name for our baby, okay?"

"But..."

"Tell me, what do you _know_ about delivering babies?"

"I... as you wish, I'll wait outside," he got up and gently kissed May. "Be safe."

"Thank you," she kept smiling until he left. "Please, don't be afraid of him," she told the midwife. "He's short tempered, but he's a good person."

"My lady... it is obvious you love him. You see him in better light than anyone else. I'm sorry, but I can never forgive him for what he and his kind did to us."

"I understand, I'm sorry," May paused for a moment. "The baby is coming too soon, it should have one more month. So please, if anything happens, try to save the baby, not me."

"My lady, but..."

"And don't go with the _'Lady of Life is important for Elysea'_. Who can ever trust a _Lady of Life_ , if she lets her child die?"

"I will do my best to have you both alive and well, my lady."

~ x ~

Zikel left the small building and sat on nearest crate. His thoughts swirled in tornados, when he tried to put together the latest moments. Alia will have a baby. His baby. He's going to be a father. Why didn't she tell him? He needed a drink, but he wanted to stay sober until Alia and the baby get to safety. This place wasn't safe at all. Tiamat has run away, but it didn't mean someone else couldn't attack. He got up, checked his sword and armour and carefully scanned the surroundings. He waited until Vaizel appointed guards in front of the isolation building and some assistants of the midwife arrived. Then he started walking around the garrison, looking for any signs of danger. After an hour of watching he returned to the garrison and sat on some crate where he had a good view on the small building, where Alia was giving birth. To a baby. For whom he was supposed to pick up a name. He didn't know if it's going to be a boy or girl, so he needed two names. But he couldn't come up with either.

"Hey, man, could you stop?" Vaizel appeared next to him and hit him friendly on the back.

"Stop what?" Zikel grunted.

"You're scaring these people."

"I don't care."

"Could you at least look like you're _not_ going to attack someone the next moment?" Vaizel sighed. "Hey, look, I know you're worried about her. We're all worried, okay?"

"And why are _you_ worried, hm?"

"Come on, Zikel, you're not jealous, right? I'm worried because she's the fucking _Lady of Life_! We finally calmed down the hell caused by Yustiel's death. I would really love to relax for a while."

Zikel gave him an angry stare, then got up without a word and started walking around the garrison again. He hated this place. And he hated the fact his Alia was the Lady of Life, that was the reason why was she injured. And she was an Elyos. That's why he couldn't be here to protect her. And now, the only thing he _could_ do, was waiting.

And walking.

Sitting.

More walking.

Someone brought him water. He drank it without even looking at that person.

Few hours later, when he was sitting in front of the isolation building again, the midwife came out.

"It's a girl," she said and her tired face hardened, when she added: "Elyos."

Zikel hurried inside. The moment he saw his beloved woman, he stopped and stared at her in shock for a while. She was half sitting, half laying in the bed and she looked different than few hours before. Weaker, drained, almost fading away. But she looked happy. In her arms she was holding a crying baby wrapped in clean sheets.

"A... Alia..." he breathed out. "Are you... are you alright?"

"She's beautiful," May smiled at him. "Come, you can hold her too."

"I... " Zikel hesitantly came closer and took the baby from her. "She's so small."

"So? What's her name?"

"Eh, what?"

"Zikel, did you pick a name for her?"

"Uh, sure, yes, I did, shhh" he cradled the baby to hide embarassement and the little girl stopped crying and looked at him with big green eyes full of curiosity. "Ehm, it's... she's... Alinette," he said finally, unable to turn his gaze away from her.

"It's a beautiful name," May replied, her voice sounded differently. Tired. Too tired. That immediately caught Zikel's attention.

"Are you alright?" he looked at her. She was still smiling, but her breath was heavy. "Healer! Dammit, healer!" he raised his voice and the baby started crying again.

"I'm sorry, Zikel," May sobbed and tears appeared in her eyes. "You've chosen a really beautiful name, thank you."

"My lady!" the midwife who helpt with the birth ran to the room. "What happened?" she came close and begun casting a healing spell, but May gently caught her hand.

"Are Vaizel and Castor still there?"

"Yes, my lady. And Lord Nezekan arrived a moment ago."

"Please, call them here. All three."

"No, no, no, heal her first!" Zikel protested, while trying to calm down the baby.

"Zikel, please, it's important." May looked at him seriously. "Elassa, go, call them."

"A-as you wish, my lady," the healer quickly left the room.

"Alia, why don't you let her heal you?"

"Please, forgive me, Zikel," she sat on the bed. "Can I... hold Alinette for a moment?"

"Of course," he gave her the baby, carefully, he didn't want to injure either of them with his claws.

"Hi, my baby girl," she half whispered. "Your name is Alinette now, do you like it? It's a name your daddy gave you," the baby stopped crying when she heard her voice. "Daddy loves you very much, so be nice to him, okay? I love you too, my sweetheart, more than anything else, so... I hope... one day... you will forgive me," she kissed the girl on her forehead and put her on the bed next to herself. Then she reached out towards Zikel and he leaned closer, so she could caress his cheek. "I love you, Zikel," she whispered and kissed him.

"I love you too, Alia."

"Uhm, we were told you wanted to see us, but we can wait outside a bit more, if you want some privacy," Vaizel's voice sounded from the door.

"No, no, it's alright, stay, please," May looked at them and returned to her half sitting, half laying position. "It's important."

"You don't look well, May," Nezekan said with concern. "Are you sure you don't want a healer?"

"No, it's fine. But Elassa, please stay here too. Alinette was born too early, Tiamat even attacked her, she will need help."

Vaizel noticed a thin line of aether from May to her daughter. Too thin to be noticed by an untrained eye. Or someone as distressed as Zikel.

"Just don't do anything stupid, okay?" he said.

"Vaizel," she smiled warmly. "You've been... like a brother to me, you know me too well. I always do something stupid. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, sis, take it easy, we'll call some good clerics and they'll fix you and your girl in no time."

"No, I'm too weak to be Lady of Life. So I'm..." she took a deep breath. "I'm stepping down from this position."

"NO! No, Alia, you can't do that!" Zikel knelt next to her bed and caught her hand. "You're strong and amazing and... there is no one who can replace you."

"There is," her smile was sad. She touched her daughter's hand. "I love you both."

A warm, bright, white light filled the room.

"No!" Zikel shouted. "Alia, don't do that! ALIA!"


	3. Chapter 03

When the Lady of Light finished her speech, the entire hall fell silent. Just her presence itself was a bad omen and after she started speaking, no one dared to interrupt her. Tiamat attacked in Eltnen and lady May was dead. Lady Ariel wasn't just delivering the bad news, she has also formally asked for help, as the Elyos were preparing for retaliation, a siege of Tiamat's Stronghold.

"Lady Ariel, do you have information about Zikel?" Lumiel asked. "We have no news of him since he was teleported to Sanctum."

"We know he requested teleport to the Roah fortress. I assume he is after vengeance, killing any Balaur who stand in his way."

"Yes, that sounds like him, thank you," the Lady of Wisdom got up from her seat. "Now if you excuse me, I'll go find him, before he gets himself killed. Once I return you can count on my support in the upcoming battle."

"Do you know how to find him, Lumiel?" Marchutan raised eyebrow in surprise.

"I'll just follow the trail of Balaur corpses. It's not like he's hiding," she waited for Azphel's approval and when he nodded, she left the council hall.

"Can you give us some information about your plan of attack and what kind of help do you expect from us?" Azphel came directly to the point of the discussion.

"As we speek, Nezekan and Kaisinel are securing assistance of the Reians, if they agree, the preparations will continue in Rancora fortress. I will join them right after I leave Pandaemonium," Ariel described the situation. "Vaizel is staying in Sanctum to ensure safety of May's child, so any assistance of lady Triniel and her spies would be welcome. We also need as much firepower as you can provide, if we want the siege of Tiamat's Stronghold to be successful."

"Triniel, Marchutan, go to Balaurea and assist the Seraphim lords. I'll wait here for Lumiel and Zikel to return."

~ x ~

The Artifacts in Reshanta were remnants of the Tower of Infinity, that survived the massive explosion that shattered the world and also centuries of being left in cold without maintenance. Their potential power was incomparable to anything commonly known and they were sought after to be explored and if possible, used in battle. Several of such Artifacts were spread around the Kysis fortress and all of them were currently occupied by Balaur groups.

Under every usual circumstances this would be very dire situation for the daevas in that area, but Zikel welcomed it. In his grief and rage he didn't bother with any tactics, he just flew at full speed into the biggest group of them and killed everyone who dared to move. At the first few moments the Balaur were confused about what seemed like a suicide attack, but when he killed three of them in two blows, they formed a defense. But against an Empyrean Lord of Destruction it wasn't enough. After several minutes he stared at empty Artifact with Balaur corpses around. Because he wasn't wearing his full battle armour, which he didn't expect to need in Sanctum, but only a breastplate and lighter plating on his boots, he got more cuts than he was used to. But he didn't pay slightest attention to them. The only person he has ever loved was dead. Again. And this time he saw her die. There was no mistake, he knew will never see her again. He felt as if something have ripped part of his soul and left only emptiness in it. And the only way he knew how to fill the empty place, was revenge. It was a Balaur lord who caused Alia's death, so the Balaur had to pay for it. But even after killing everyone around this Artifact he didn't feel any better.

He looked around and saw a distant glow, that indicated another of the Artifacts. He left the slaughtered bodies and charged in that direction. The situation almost repeated itself. Zikel was already injured and spent a lot of energy at the first Artifact, so the Balaur lasted longer and attacked harder, but even that didn't save them. When the battle was over, he only took time to bandage the most severe injuries that restricted his movements. Then he spread his wings and flew to another destination where another Artifact was supposed to be. Half way through he saw a group of five Balaur, a regular patrol in the area. He glided down. The Balaur noticed him, but too late to form any effective defence. He cut away one guard's arm and kicked him aside, in the next moment he parried attack from another, but immediately he countered and his sword slashed the Balaur armour like a paper. He sensed movement behind his back and quickly turned around, beheading another sentry. Within the instant when he took his eyes away from the remaining two, he got shot from a cannon and a lightning struck his back. With few quick steps he jumped towards the gunner, cut the arms holding the cannon and pierced the gunner's chest. Then he turned to the remaining one. The mage didn't bother with defence, she knew she had no chance against enraged Empyrean lord, she just wanted to cause as much damage as she could. But before the sword could touch her body, another Balaur guard stepped into its path. He was already heavily bleeding from the stub of his arm and the blade made another deadly injury in his torso, but something has kept him alive and he grabbed the sword's hilt to prevent Zikel from pulling it out. The mage shrieked in horror and the guard replied with words Zikel wasn't able to translate. That angered him even more. He was Lord of Destruction, he wasn't supposed to be struggling for a weapon with some dying Balaur! With a bit more aether and furious roar he ripped the sword from the soldier and split his body in half. But those moments were enough for the mage to create a quick portal and disappear.

Zikel stood silently among the bodies of the former patrol, gazing into distance and feeling as if a thick smoke covered his mind. The escaped mage was probably already calling for reinforcements and it wasn't too difficult to connect this attack with the silence from the two Artifacts. Should he wait for them? Or head to the next Artifact? There still weren't enough of dead Balaur to soothe the pain from the loss of his beloved woman.

"Uh, how can you stay in this terrible stench?" a familiar voice echoed behind him.

"Go away, Lumiel, this is not your business," he replied without looking at her.

"Neither is yours. You said it yourself it's useless to run around and kill random pawns, it's the leaders who need to be killed."

"I also said that there's never enough of dead Balaur," he snapped and turned around. But when he looked at Lumiel, something seemed different about her.

"Hm, yes, you were saying that quite often," she agreed. "But look at yourself now. You're barely standing and there's several wounds that need immediate attention. It won't do any good if you get yourself killed."

"I don't care. Alia is dead."

"And it would be very unfortunate if little Alinette lost her father too," Lumiel added seriously. Zikel wanted to retort something angry, but before he could open his mouth, he realised she was right. He had a daughter now. He still had someone to protect. Lumiel waited for a moment and then added: "Come and let the healers take care of you. I can assure you Tiamat won't get away with this."

He silently nodded. The Lady of Wisdom gently took his arm, summoned a portal and led him back to Pandaemonium.

~ x ~

It was about an hour since lord Kaisinel left the Beacon, when Canta and several others received orders to gather in Rancora fortress. All generals were sending soldiers to support the siege of Tiamat's Stronghold, one of the most fortified fortresses in Balaurea. Under normal circumstances no one would consider such siege possible, but no one could imagine death of an Empyrean lady either. Now two of them have died in very short time. Canta's eyes filled with tears again. After the initial distrust during the peace conference, she grew to like lady May. And she adored lady Yustiel too. But now no Lady of Life was with them anymore. Lord Kaisinel said the Power of Life is preserved in lady May's child, but what could a newborn baby do with it?

Canta sniffed, wiped her tears and started packing things she thought she could need in the battle and during waiting for it. Her weapon, spare clothes, first aid kit, blanket, field mess kit. She looked at her unfinished set of accessories, which she worked on for the last few months, trying to bind spells into them. Then she picked a pendant with a healing spell imbued to it and packed it too. She double checked her equipment and left her room to join the squad leaving the Beacon.

After she was teleported to Kamar and then to Rancora fortress, she was accomodated in simple Barracks with rooms for more than ten people. That fact shocked her at first, but then she realised it wasn't meant for long-time living, the soldiers were gathering here to march to battle. And as she begun realising, that thought scared her a lot. Yes, she have seen battles at the Beacon, but it was always defense and she was never in the front lines. This was a whole new experience for her. She had some free time before the evening meal, so she was walking around the fortress, watching the people and wondering how can such amount of people ever become organised fighting force. Then, at one of the training grounds she saw a familiar face.

"Hey! Yekkob! Is that you? Oh, it's you, I haven't seen you in such a long time!" she called and ran towards him.

"Who?" the man turned around. "Canta?" he blinked several times, he couldn't believe it was her. But her face and voice was unmistakable. "What are you doing here?"

"I was ordered to come here. But to tell the truth, I'm scared. I just wanted to be useful and lady May was so nice, she recommended me a teacher and then sent me to the Beacon, but now she's gone and I think I'll be useless here, but an order is an order, so I came. I mean I learnt a lot in the last eight months, but I don't think it could prepare me for something like this. Oh, if at least Shien was here, she always knew what to do, well if she wasn't panicking because of her nightmares, oh, Aion, I can't even imagine how she feels right now, that lady May..." she paused and looked at her friend, who raised one eyebrow.

"You should slow down and start from the beginning," he said. "Did you lose some bet that you're dressed like this?"

"What? No! I bought this few months ago, we got one free day, so Shien took me to Kamar market. It's very comfortable and you can't even imagine how awesome are all these pockets!" she started explaining.

"Well, that's a nice change," he laughed. "So, I guess that harp isn't just for music, right?"

"You're right, I use it as a focus to cast spells. I can do some easy ones without it, like lighting a candle, but not much more. I tried to improve it with magic stones, but I can't tell if I succeeded."

"I can take a look for you," Yekkob offered. He was a spiritmaster and from what she heard, a good one. And unlike her, he had a lot of practical experience with spellcasting.

"Sure, just... don't break it," she handed the harp to him with a tiny worry. She knew he wouldn't do anything bad with it, but it was _her_ harp and she didn't like giving it away.

"Haha, don't worry," he laughed and sat on a nearby wooden bench. "Hm, who taught you how to enchant it?"

"Eh, well, no one, I just observed others and..." she sighed helplessly. "Is it _that_ bad?"

"If it was a sword or a spear or a bow, it would be more or less okay. But it's a harp, you're using it to channel aether, not to hit the enemies with it. So," he concentrated a bit of aether and removed three enhancement stones from it, breaking them in the process. "These are completely useless here."

"What are you doing?!"

"It just won't work this way. Now it's not any worse or better than before. I have some of the right stones here with me. And if you tell me why are you here, I'll give them to you," the spiritmaster smiled.

"What do you mean? I told you I got orders..."

"Canta, when we met a year ago, you were trying to avoid any visits outside of Sanctum. And now you're here, dressed in a very nice and practical dress, but back then you would have called it _rags_ and on top of everything you're trying to play a soldier. So? What happened?"

"Oh," she looked miffed at the beginning, but then her expression softened. "You're right. I was... different. And you want to know what happaned? Well, long story short, lady May happened."

~ x ~

Shien was returning from one of the infinite meetings required for the festival and wasn't even angry. All that negotiating and listening to people's complaints made her just tired. It was late afternoon and she longed for a cup of tea and few minutes of silence. Fortunately, the office she shared with other subordinates of lady Lumiel was behind the library and people tended to be quiet there. But when she entered the building, arch sage Cavalorn spotted her and with a simple gesture called her towards him.

"Greetings, Cavalorn," she forced her lips to smile.

"Miss Shienar, lady Lumiel wishes to speak with you urgently. She's expecting you in her office the moment you return," he said with professional calm.

"Oh, thank you," that was a surprise, the Lady of Wisdom didn't seem to be interested in what was she doing. Did some of the nobles complain about her?

She made a quick stop at her desk to get rid of the _festival bag_ she had to carry with her every time she went outside. It was a satchel containing various agreements, lists, notes, maps and every possible documents she needed to convince the people involved in the festival to listen to her.

Carefully, she knocked at the door to the Lady's office, waited for an invitation and entered. Except for her superior there were two more people, man and woman, she couldn't remember their names, but she knew they were high-ranked military officers.

"Ah, Shienar," lady Lumiel sounded a bit surprised, as if she arrived too early. "Please, wait outside for a moment."

"As you wish, my lady," Shien bowed and left without displaying her confusion. _It was so urgent and now I have to wait outside? What's going on?_

After several long minutes the visitors left and she was allowed to enter. Lady Lumiel looked worried, tired and there was something off about her. After few seconds Shien realised it was the Lady's hair, instead of the glittering gold she has known all her life it was now dark purple. She vaguely remembered some ancient, pre-Cataclysm painting of her with purple hair. Shien wondered what happened, the Lady of Wisdom didn't do things out of whim, she had reason for everything, even such small detail like changing colour of her hair.

"Sit down, please," she gestured at one of the chairs. Her voice was too serious, so Shien obeyed without a word. "I'm sorry to tell you such news, Shienar. Two days ago Tiamat attacked a settlement in Eltnen. Lady May was there, she saved lives of the people, but she was injured during the battle..."

"What happened to Alia?" Shien interrupted her. "Will she be alright?"

"No," lady Lumiel shook her head. "After Tiamat left, lady May gave birth to a girl and gave her the Power of Life."

There was a silence for a few seconds.

"No," the young sorceress breathed out. "No, no, no, that can't be true! You're kidding, right?"

"I am serious, Shienar. Lady May is dead. Lord Azphel will make official announcement tomorrow. After that I will need you to communicate to everyone involved in the festival. It will be postponed, until..."

"What the... _Now_ , you can't be serious! Alia... Lady of Life has just died and all you can think of is some stupid festival?" Shien almost shouted.

"No. There's a lot more things in my mind right now, than _some stupid festival_. Ensuring Zikel stays sane is one of them. Another one is the siege we're going to lay to Tiamat's Stronghold. Diplomatic communications to the Elyos and the Reians. Ide and drana research. Progress of the Wisdom Orb legion in Brusthonin. There's still a lot of things that need to keep going, _especially_ after such tragic event as the death of an Empyrean lady. Go home for the rest of today and use the time to mourn, I know you two were very close. But tomorrow you will be needed here."

"I want to fight! Anyone can do this paperwork, let me join the army against Tiamat!"

"Yes, anyone can do it. And since you've been involved from the beginning, it will be easier for you than for anyone else. If you're successful in time, you can join the army. Understood?"

"Yes, my lady," Shien resigned. "Can I assume you want the festival postponed until we defeat Tiamat?"

"Exactly."

"But what if we don't?"

"Then it won't matter. We absolutely have to defeat her and we need to make our people to believe it now."

"I... understand. Thank you for informing me, my lady. Can I leave now?"

"Yes, take care."

Lumiel smiled. Her pupil has begun to learn to control her emotions, even though the death of her best friend was tearing her apart from the inside. She have felt the same, when Yustiel died and unlike now, back then they were enemies, she couldn't afford to let anyone know her grief, it would cause unnecessary discord among the Asmodians. _At least now we're free to mourn the loss of our friends_.

~ x ~

The infirmary of the Eltnen fortress was clean and quiet. And boring, as Wolf would add, every time some nurse have visited him and refused to let him leave. After their wounds were treated in the desert garrison, Wolf and Axelion were transported into Eltnen Fortress. Due to the destruction of the Fountain of Life, the garrison was extremely unsiutable place for the injured. Several moments after they woke up, the officers told them about the fate of lady May and her baby. Since then Wolf demanded to be released, so he could join the army in the attack on Tiamat. But the healers had different opinion and insisted on staying here and recuperating. Never in his life he has felt so helpless. He failed lady May, the same way he failed his friend many years ago. He was supposed to protect her and in the end all he could do was watching her getting hurt. And now... he knew going to Eltnen was a bad idea, even though he had no clue about lady May being pregnant. If he could have just convinced her...

~ x ~

The Stronghold was buzzing with life and preparations for defense. Tiamat was pacing back and forth in her throne room, waiting for the reports and giving orders. She has expected to be attacked after her action in Eltnen even if she succeeded, so the preparations begun long before she departed. But the reports from her spies have failed her. Lady May was supposed to be easily manipulated and threat to that settlement _and_ her baby should convince her to leave. But no. She stubbornly stayed and held the Dragon Lord off for long enough until another Empyrean lords arrived. Which was another surprise, lord Zikel wasn't even _supposed to_ be in Elysea. With her body being weakened with the presence of aether, no matter how advanced technology she used to suppress it, that _substance_ always found its way to her, she could deal with only two of them, not three. Especially if the third one was an insane Lord of Destruction.

She stopped, listened to another reports, barked some orders and clenched her fists. At least Lady May was dead. That could be considered as partial success. And if Fredgion won't refuse her invitation, the rest of them will be dead too. Her fortress was impenetrable and she was sure the daevas will make great effort to get in, so if another Balaur army could arrive while they're focused on her, it could finally mean victory over them. The only problem was, that Fredgion and his armies were too far away and the others would be waste of her time. Beritra has all but declared war to her when he _revieved_ Apsu. She knew it was an impostor, but the gesture was clear. Ereshkigal was out of the game for centuries and Meslamtaeda, albeit being always hungry for more battle and destruction, didn't dare to fart if he didn't get it as an order from Fredgion. The supreme leader of the Balaur was her only chance. Of course she couldn't phrase the message as a call for help, but rather as a _tactics how to corner the now united daevas and destroy them_.

"My lady, did you wish to see me?" a voice has interrupted her thoughts.

"I hope you have learnt your lesson, Tahabata," she said without looking at him. Although the general has failed in protecting the Siel's relics, she needed everyone, in case the daevas come with _another_ surprise.

"Yes, my lady," he replied humbly. Even though the main trait of most of the Balaur was arrogance, it was unwise to show it in front of someone stronger.

"Good. You'll be leading the defense of the inner circle. If the daevas come up with some surprise how to get inside, I want to see them dead. Understood?"

"Yes, my lady. No daevas will pass through me and my legion," he bowed, even if she wasn't looking. _Or what's left of it_. When he was in prison, he heard gossips, that his adjutant has been promoted into brigade general and the legion split, leaving him only with less than half of his former troops. And he knew that the _inner circle defense_ was a punishment again, not a chance for redemption. There was no way the daevas could get through the other legions.

~ x ~

Kamar became a very busy place. At first, Chellia didn't know why, but the news didn't let her wait for long. Lady May was dead. And a great battle against Tiamat was about to begin. The vast majority of the army was gathering at the Rancora Fortress, but the Empyrean lords and generals stayed in Kamar for now, counseling and creating the battle plans in the Strategy room, where they had an incredible plastic map of Balaurea. And a lot of paper maps of various areas, Tiamat's Stronghold being one of them. Once Chellia was invited for such meeting to show on the map what she remembered from her tragic journey. The information she was able to provide them was of little use, as numbers and placement of the guards were likely already changed. Apart from that, they didn't want her to participate. When she listened on the halls about the parts of their plans they took outside the Strategy room, she panicked.

 _They can't possibly think they can defeat her like this?!_

She has requested a meeting with her brother, but even he could make time for her after few days.

"She's too powerful, even without the relics," she said. "And her generals are terrifying. This is insane, they can't defeat her like this."

"Chellia, we know Tiamat is extremely powerful, she was able to injure and Empyrean lady inside of aetheric field. But there will be seven Empyrean lords and thousands of soldiers and she's only one Dragon lord. From what we know, Beritra won't help her and others are too far away to get here before the battle is over. We will defeat her," Kahrun patiently explained her. Since her return from Tiamat's Stronghold she has been quiet and tried her best in her training and never left the city, unless she was ordered, so Kahrun tried to be nice to her and calm her down, even though he wasn't so sure about the victory. Too many things could go wrong.

"But so many people will die, the obelisks won't resurrect them all, you know that!"

"We have no other option than to attack."

"Then... at least let me use Hyperion!" she pleaded.

"Chellia, stop. Don't start with this again. We have talked about this so many times already," he frowned at her. "We don't even know _where_ Hyperion is, we can't _get you_ to it. How do you want to control it?"

"But..."

"Please, Chellia, I know you're trying to help and I know the battle will be terrible. All battles are. But the Hyperion is out of our reach now. I promise you I will let you know if we ever find any clue..."

"I understand," she interrupted him and turned around to leave. "I'm sorry for wasting your time, commander."

She left without saying goodbye or looking at him. Kahrun sighed and shook his head. He was certain she didn't _understand_ , but right now he couldn't afford to let it distract his mind from planning.

~ x ~

Vaizel took another deep breath and again read all recent reports about Lepharist and Dragonbound spies his people caught or had information on and compared it with the analysis of the fake letter for May. But there was nothing that would point him anywhere. There was a spy in Sanctum, someone very skilled with seeing through illusions or very close to May. Either was too dangerous, he needed to root that person out, someone like that couldn't be let to run around freely. And not just for vengeance. Yes, punishing the people who caused May's death was more than necessary, but he was also concerned about little Alinette's safety. For now she was in the guest room in his house, constantly guarded by his most trusted people. They had orders to not let anyone close to her, who wouldn't be personally approved by either him or other Empyrean lords. So far, only her wet-nurse Varinia with her own baby and healer Hygea were allowed to see her.

He got up and went to the guest room. There was no need to start furnishing a room for a child now, after the matter with Tiamat is resolved, Alinette will be most probably moved to Ariel's palace. Of course, only if Zikel won't insist on raising her in Asmodae, that would complicate things severely. Vaizel shook his head and banished those thoughts. He had to focus on her safety _now_. What happens after the battle, will happen after the battle.

"My lord, the healer has requested your presence," a guard met him in the middle of his path. "She's concerned about the baby's health."

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure, my lord. It looks like fever. Better talk to the healer," the guard looked worried.

"Thank you," Vaizel nodded and continued into the guest room. "How is she?" he asked without greetings. The baby girl was crying in her crib and the healer was with her, weaving aether around her little body.

"M-my lord..." the wet-nurse was nervously clutching her newborn son. "Sh-she refuses to drink... I-I've tried, my lord, but..."

"Stop," Vaizel halted her words. He felt a bit guilty for for being too harsh at her when she arrived yesterday and he wanted to make her understand how important it the girl's well-being. "I know you've tried. Don't be scared, no one blames you and no one will hurt your boy. Hygea, what happened?"

"It's very strange, my lord," Hygea said. She used to work closely with Yustiel and was helping May a lot in the last months, so Vaizel knew her and after careful consideration he decided he can trust her enough to take care of Alinette's health. "The Power of Life has saved her, she would have died without it, but now it seems it's killing her. The body is too small, I'm afraid she can't handle so much power without being burnt by it."

"Can you help her?"

"I can ease her pain and keep her body from burning, but to get better she will need something... different," the healer replied sadly. "The best would be if we could keep the Power of Life away from her until she grows up and Ascends, this power is for daevas and she's just human. Some really capable sorcerers or spiritmasters should be able to tell if it's possible."

"Alright, how long can you keep up with this healing? Without hurting her or exhausting yourself."

"Few hours, my lord. But if I had help, it would be better."

"You'll get it. Varinia," he turned towards the wet-nurse and she twitched a little. "Please wait here, if Alinette's condition gets better, she will need to be fed," he tried to say gently.

"Yes, my lord, as you wish."

Vaizel left the guest room, gave necessary orders to the guards and walked to the Healing house. After few questions about direction he found a cleric he knew for a long time. Without his usual joking around he just gave orders to follow him. The cleric was a man in mid-fourties who used to be a village healer and Ascended when he almost drunk himself to death after his wife and children died to a disease he wasn't able to heal. He took it as a sign from Aion and devoted his eternal life to helping others. Due to his centuries long service he was one of the people Vaizel trusted.

He let the healers to take care of the baby and quickly headed to the teleporter to be transported to Kamar. There he caught first Asmodian who looked at least semi-intelligent and asked him few questions, after which he was teleported to Pandaemonium. Fortunately, from his visits in the last few months he remembered the way to his destination, so he didn't have to ask and when he barged in Lumiel's office, he completely surprised her.

"Come with me, now," he said simply.

The Lady of Wisdom arched her eyebrow and looked at him curiously: "A rather fast turn of events, isn't it?"

"It's Alinette, she needs your help. Some seal like you made for Chellia," he continued without his usual jokes. From that she could tell it was really serious.

"I placed seal on Chellia to hide her unusual attachment to the aether. There is no need to hide Alinette, since everyone already knows about her," Lumiel objected.

"She will die, if we don't help her. Just come with me and the healer will tell you everything."

"I'll go then, a short trip to Sanctum shouldn't hurt," she smiled. "Please wait at the teleporter, I'll be right there," she waved her hand, created a portal and stepped through it.

Vaizel shook his head and returned to the Vifrost Bridge. After few minutes another portal appeared and Lumiel emerged from it, carrying a simple satchel over her shoulder. Vaizel didn't ask what was it for, he knew some complicated spells required some objects, either as enhancing materials or as focus, but that was as far as his knowledge about spellcasting went. If Lumiel carried something she needed, the better.

~ x ~

No matter the time in year, the Sillus fortress was always covered in snow. Sometimes there was less of it, sometimes more, but since he conquered it, Beritra has never seen the mountain slopes around without the white cover. Not that the Fourth Dragon Lord would care about weather. But he did care about what his patrols found in the snow, be it pieces of ancient Danuar technology or enemy spies. Or, like in this case, a messenger from Tiamat. They caught him when he tried to sneak around through the mountains and when he was cornered, he claimed to have a message for thr First Dragon Lord Fredgion. And, of course, refused to tell them what it was. The soldiers brought him in front of their lord's throne and under supervision of brigade general Sheba tried to beat him enough to reveal the secret, but he was resilient.

"Stop!" Beritra ordered when he got annoyed be the unsuccessful attempts. "If he won't tell it willingly, I'll take the answers I need. Hold him."

The guards immediately caught his arms and immobilised him completely. He was already bound and kneeling and beaten, so they didn'thave much work with him. Then Beritra reached his hand towards the captured Balaur. His fingers briefly glowed blue as he sent an extension of his will into the messenger's head.


	4. Chapter 04

Zikel was standing in the Reian Strategy room and staring at the incredibly detailed and precise map of Balaurea. He didn't admire the the genius craftsmanship, though. His mind was occupied with the strategy they agreed on so far. Attacking the three gates at the same time and sending Triniel with group of capable assassins through the sewers was the most efficient kind of attack, however it was something predictable and he was sure Tiamat will be prepared for it. If their intel was correct, they had enough people and siege weapons to win by sheer force, but the stronghold wasn't called _impenetrable_ without reason. He was sure Tiamat will have some nasty surprises for them and he couldn't think of _anything_ , that could be the nasty surprise from their side.

"You should get some rest, Zikel," Triniel stepped out of shadows. "The attack will begin in just few days, you can't go to battle exhausted."

"Yes, I know, I'll get some sleep once I figure this out," he replied while still hypnotizing the map.

"Figure what out?" Triniel looked at the map in surprise. "I know we're waiting for some final reports of my scouts, but the attack plan is now solid."

"Yes," he nodded. "And Tiamat will expect it. We need something she wouldn't expect. I don't want to lose half of our army and then see her running away because the siege takes too long."

"I know what you mean. I've been thinking about it myself. And we don't have many options. Based on what you and Vaizel saw in Eltnen, Tiamat has acess to some new technology, any plan for surprise attack, would be dangerous for us, until we find out what we're going into."

"And it will be no less dangerous if we just wait for her to make the first step."

"Yes. I know. I'm not taking this lightly, Zikel. I'm doing what I can and it doesn't help that we still don't trust each other with the Elyos. They... We don't know their full capabilities and they don't know ours, creating any specific strategy is very difficult like this."

"Yeah, I get it," Zikel frowned. "I just... want to _do something._ "

"Get some rest."

"When I was in the Abyss, after Alia..." he took a deep breath. "There was a Balaur and before I killed him, he said something I didn't understand."

"What did he say?" Triniel asked with curiosity. Zikel told her and she raised her eyebrows in surprise. "He said that to you?"

"No, to another Balaur. She escaped."

"Well, that makes sense."

"So? What was it? Was he calling for reinforcements?"

"No, not exactly. It means: _Survive, my soul is with you_. The latter is a Balaur phrase equivalent to: _I love you_."

"Uh, what?"

"That's their phrase, Zikel," Triniel chuckled. "They don't say it very often, though, it must have been a very deep relationship between them. Be careful, that female will want revenge."

"I can handle one crazed Balaur."

"You can, but she won't go after you. Assuming she survives for long enough, she'll start gathering intel about you, which can take years, if my research of their behaviours is correct, and then strikes where it will hurt you the most. And that's Alinette. No, don't go anywhere. She's safe now. Even if the information about her birth got to them, there's no way a lonely Balaur could get to Sanctum, not with Vaizel being almost paranoid. So calm down and tell me everything you remember from that encounter."

~ x ~

Just a few moments before noon Shien stormed into lady Lumiel's office and put a pile of papers on the table. She looked tired and her hair was just tied in the back instead of her usual more finely kempt style.

"Can I go now?" she asked without greeting. Then she took a deep breath and added: "My lady."

"Yes," Lumiel handed her a sealed letter. "Give this to general Skafir or some of her adjutants, they'll assign you a task. Don't forget to follow orders."

"Yes, my lady," Shien took the letter and quickly left the library. She have already prepared the things she needed, so she only picked them up and headed for the teleporter. After spending so many days in Pandaemonium, her eyes all but exploded when she appeared in Kamar. She took a minute or two to adapt and then was teleported to Rancora fortress, where general Skafir, along with some others, was organising the troops and supplies. She gave the letter to the first officer she found.

"You're a sorceress? What are you still doing here, then?" the officer glared at her. He looked annoyed and tired.

"I've just arrived," Shien said simply. "Where should I go if not here?"

"To the Elyos part of the fortress. Lord Kaisinel gave orders for all sorcerers and spiritmasters to gather there."

"Why?"

"You're not supposed to ask _why_. He's an Empyrean lord, you're supposed to obey his orders."

"Yes, sir, I'll go right away," she turned around and headed to the other side of Rancora, where the Elyos half of the army resided. It wasn't difficult to find a hall with large crowd of mages from every part of Atreia led by a man dressed in rich, mostly purple robes and wearing several layers of what no one could tell if it was make-up or warpaint. When she entered, he was just in the middle of speach.

"...the task will require great amount of concentration, precision and discipline. There will be no place for individual show-offs. I'll proceed to demonstration of what you'll need to perfectly master by tomorrow morning. Those of you who won't, will return to your units," he overlooked the crowd and stopped his piercing blue gaze on Shien. "Of course the best for this demonstration would be Lumiel, but since she's not here, her assistant will have to do. Come over here."

"But I'm not... As you wish, my lord," the sorceress made her way through the crowd, trying to remain calm and ignoring the curious looks of her fellow mages. "What do you need of me?" she asked the Lord of Illusions when she reached the stairs he was standing on.

"Create a portal, starting here, ending in the middle of this hall, under the ceiling."

"Unbound?" she was genuinly surprised.

"Unless you're bound to two meters under this ceiling, then yes, unbound," the Lord replied, annoyed.

Shien didn't comment on that and concentrated on gathering aether the spell required. Unbound portals were usually several times more difficult than bound portals, but this time, fortunately, the exit spot was within her sight, so she was able to cast it in less than thirty seconds.

"Is this enough, my lord?"

Kaisinel summoned a purple butterfly and sent it through the portal. The Asmodian part of the audience was confused, the Elyos knew their Lord was just getting started.

"Creating an unbound portal above Tiamat's Stronghold will be a part of your task. Those of sorcerers, who know they can't do it, can leave now," he waited for few disappointed and puzzled daevas to walk away and then continued. "But the needed number of portals flickering above the Balaur heads would immediately draw attention. They would have time to prepare themselves for the attack. We need something more sophisticated than this. Cease the spell."

Shien released the spell and the portals dissipated.

"Now, I hope you've heard about simultaneous casting."

"Yes," she replied and tried to keep her calm. Of course she knew what it was, every spellcaster knew it. The highest stage of simultaneous casting was the legendary _unison_.

"Create the portal again, while I cast a cloaking spell around it," Kaisinel ordered. When she raised her arms in front of her to start the spell, he caught her forearm and weaved his own aether around her. The sorceress panicked. She has always hated the simultaneous casting and this Empyrean lord didn't do anything to make it easier. He expected a flawless spell and acted according to it. She took a deep breath, calmed down and tried to fully concentrate on her spell. But the presence of someone else so close to her mind was too distracting. _Why can't he just go away?_ She felt pain. In her head, in her muscles, in her eyes. _Dammit, the portal isn't that difficult!_ Shien was angry at herself. She had more than enough of practice in the Beacon, she shouldn't have problems with creating two short-distance portals now. Slowly, but steadily she shaped the aether, trying to ignore the interfering spell. Finally a glowing circle appeared in front of her. But the exit wasn't where it should be.

"Maybe you're wondering if the exit is still in this hall," the Lord of Illusions said aloud and the gathered people looked around in confusion. Then he summoned a butterfly ald let it fly through the portal. It emerged out of thin air above the heads of the audience. "This will be your task. Split into pairs, one sorcerer and one spiritmaster, and tomorrow morning I want to see enough concealed portals to get our troops into the Stronghold."

Then he released his spell and Shien took it as a sign to stop maintaining hers.

"That was pitiful," he spat towards the sorceress. Quietly, but the nearest mages still heard it. "I expected something at least decent from someone rumored to reach the unison," with those words he left the hall.

She didn't react, her vision was still blurred and her head was pounding. She sat on the stairs, trying to ignore the voices and stares around her. A good part of the audience was waiting if she reacts to the humiliation from the Empyrean lord, but she was just sitting there, waiting for her eyesight to return and her body to stop shaking. After several minutes they got bored and started finding their counterparts for the task.

"It was quite impressive," an unknown male voice said next to her. "Foolish, of course, but impressive anyway. And if we weren't preparing for a battle, it would be funny too."

Shien turned her head and saw an Elyos man in thirties, with short brown kempt hair, wearing a simple cloak made of high-quality materials.

"What exactly was impressive?" she asked, still frowning. Provocations were the last thing she needed now.

"That performance. I get it, you and lord Kaisinel don't get along, it was clear at the moment he told you to come here. But fighting him? Now? You're either insane or have really insane orders. So? Which is it?"

"I wasn't fighting him."

"Yeah, right. And I'm a governor of Sanctum."

"I did only what he told me to do," she objected. "He wanted portals, I summoned portals. Why... what would I get from fighting him? An Elyos jail? No, thanks. And stop bothering me, shouldn't you be practicing those cloaked portals now?"

"Good idea, let's practice some portals," he grinned. "I'm Yekkob, teacher in Lyceum of Sanctum and a part-time soldier."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope, I really am a teacher."

"I don't mean _that_. You can't seriously... you saw the disaster just a while ago. I can't do simultaneous casting. You're wasting your time here," Shien shook her head.

"It wasn't a disaster. You _did_ create those portals exactly as was required, after all," he pointed out. "It just would be much easier, if you weren't fighting..."

"I told you, I _wasn't_ fighting him."

"I know what I saw. Unless... hm, that's a really interesting problem. Would you allow me to study you, miss Shienar?"

"Are you some creepy perv or what? And how do you know my name? I didn't tell it to you and the Lord of Butterflies didn't mention it either."

"You're quite a celebrity here, don't you know?" the spiritmaster kept smiling. "And we have a common acquaitance, who is all but composing odes about you."

"She's talking too much."

"Look, miss," he sat next to her. "Maybe you're misunderstanding my intentions. So I'll make myself clear. I've been always fascinated by simultaneous casting. When I get some free time from teaching, I'm trying to research as much as I can about it. And of course I've read about unison, but I've never been able to reach it. And the first documented case of unison during _my lifetime_ happened between a complete beginner at spellcasting and an elyphobic Asmodian. I want to know _why_."

"It was an accident. And I'm not elyphobic..."

"Accident?"

"Yes. Accident. And I'll make sure it will never happen again."

The spiritmaster was silent for few seconds.

"If this is your answer, miss Shienar, I, sadly, have to agree with you. I'm wasting my time here," he got up, looked around and stepped down from the stairs they were sitting on.

"Wait..." Shien said hesitantly. No matter how much she hated the simultaneous casting, they were still preparing for an important battle. She knew she had to contribute as best as she can. And this might have been the only opportunity she's going to get. "Do you really think I can create the cloaked portal?"

Yekkob turned around in surprise. _Was that fear in her voice?_

"Maybe. Maybe not. You have enough power and you're skilled enough to create an unbound portal. But you refuse to cooperate. So it's up to you."

"I don't _refuse_. I just... can't," Shien took a deep breath and looked directly at him. "I always had trouble with simultaneous casting. When I'm on my own, I'm... I was doing well. Before that _unison_. But you said you're a teacher. So, can you teach me enough to fulfill lord Kaisinel's order? I'll try to answer your questions about that unison. Just, please, stay out of my head."

"Alright, I'll teach you," Yekkob smiled. "And maybe we could go somewhere outside, you know, fresh air, clean aether, sunshine. Oh and I have the first thing you need to learn. Get rid of your prejudices. Not all spiritmasters enjoy digging for other people's secrets."

"Oh, sorry."

~ x ~

Chellia was hanging around the Peace Square in Kamar, watching various people come and go and trying to figure out how to make herself useful in the battle. Kahrun told her very clearly they won't let her go anywhere near the Stronghold again, but she couldn't get rid of the feeling they were severely underestimating the Dragon lord. She had to find the Hyperion and activate it, before it's too late. And there was only one way how to do that. The teleporter was tired, he had to move loads of people today and he wasn't paying enough attention, so she used his fatigue, waited for a group of daevas to request teleport to Danuar Spire and mingled with them. In Katalam she used her skills of getting lost in the crowd and pretending like she belonged there and without trouble she found a windstream leading to the east. On a crossroad she left the stream and landed on the path leading down the slope to Talonin Village, occupied by the Dragonbound, and Relics of Sorrow, a wasteland she needed to cross to reach her destination. She took a deep breath. It wasn't too late to turn back now, with any luck no one has noticed her disappearance from Kamar yet. But she shook her head and started walking. She couldn't return, not before she tames the legendary weapon Hyperion.

The night was slowly falling, which worked in her favour, when she tried to sneak in shadows around the village and the Asmodian sentry post. After she left the shelter of the trees and entered the barren area, the moon begun shining on her path and in distance she could see the outlines of the Sillus Mountains. Upon that sight, she stood motionless for few minutes. She really didn't want to go there. She knew going to that place, to that _person_ , was wrong, but she couldn't find any other way how to save all those people. And maybe, if she's lucky, she'll be able to deal with far worse issue than Tiamat.

She forced herself to make a step forward. Then another one. And one more. Once she started walking again, it wasn't that difficult to head in the direction towards the mountains. The moonlight was just enough to let her follow the path and evade the insidious tukapos and deadly frillnecks. She was almost at the other side of the Relics of Sorrow, when she heard a loud and hungry roar. In the dim light she saw a giant frillneck running towards her just in time to evade its jaws. She tried to slip into shadows, but the creature was mostly using its sense of smell and it would most probably find her there. She wasn't _that_ good to erase her presence completely for all senses. She didn't wait for anything the creature could decide and dashed towards the mountains. She hoped she'll be able to climb somewhere safe and the frillneck will lose the interest in her. But suddenly the air behind her turned very cold. She risked a quick glance back and stopped in the middle of movement. The huge frillneck was frozen in block of ice, glittering in the moonlight.

"My, my, you always run into some trouble, little one," a deep voice she remembered very well said and in a moment she could see a hooded person walking towards her. "You should learn to be more subtle with your actions."

"Who... who are you?" Chellia asked warily. "And what do you want from me?"

"I believe you can help me with some old unsettled issues," the person said and pulled down her hood, revealing long, white hair, thin, strict lips and cold, light-blue eyes. "And you can call me Reshi," she smiled. It was nothing but a formal smile, there was no warmth behind it.

"What issues?"

"Don't worry, I don't mean you any harm. You'll learn everything important when we reach Beritra."

"We?" _Beritra? Not_ Lord _Beritra? Who is she?_

"Of course. Did you think I was saving you for your pretty eye?"

Chellia frowned. That hurt. Although she could partially compensate it with her natural affinity to aether, the loss of her left eye was still causing her trouble. That _Reshi_ or whoever it was, didn't have to point it out like that. On the other hand, Chellia wouldn't stand a chance against her even if she had both eyes.

"We'd better move, I'm sure Beritra is already waiting for us," the white-haired woman said and started walking along the most direct path to the Sillus Fortress. Chellia followed few steps behind her. Now it was really late to turn back.

~ x ~

Another evening was falling on Sanctum and Vaizel still wasn't any closer to finding that spy. The only positive news was information about Alinette's state being stable for now. Since Lumiel has sealed her, she even started eating. Behind the guards she was safe, but he knew this situation couldn't last forever. And it was also a matter of pride to catch the person responsible for May's death. Out of despair he took some of the older reports and tried to find information in them. One specific name caught his attention.

 _How could I forget about this one?_ He thought.

~ x ~

Two more days of staying in bed and doing nothing was all Wolf could take. In the evening of the second day he got up from the bed, dressed himself up, even took on his armour and left the infirmary. He knew the healers will be busy with checking up on the other patients, so he pretended he had every possible right to leave and since he showed no sign of fatigue or injury no one has tried to stop him. From the fortress he went straight home to his modest studio in Oriel, he had to pack some necessary things if he wanted to be useful and not hindrance in the battle.

He prepared his bag, ate some sweet aether biscuits, which he was saving for moments like this when he'll need energy, but he won't have any fresh food, and fell into his bed.

The next day it was still early morning, when he arrived to Rancora and as he expected, the fortress was already buzzing with preparations for the battle. It took him a while to find some officer who wasn't busy with various tasks which movement of such amount of people and supplies required.

"You're late, the attack groups are already departing, I'll assign you to the backups," the officer said.

"My apologies, I was delayed on my mission, I came here as soon as I could," Wolf replied politely. "I'm here because I have to fight. Not to sit aside, waiting for the end of the battle."

"From what I've heard, Tiamat's defences are good. It won't take long for the backup to be called in."

"But..."

"Look, you're late. The only option besides backup would be if you volunteer to be part of lord Zikel's special attack squad. To have someone from Miragent there could boost the morale, but of course no one can force you to accept..."

"I'm in," Wolf grabbed the opportunity to get to the front lines. He didn't like the Lord of Destruction at all, but he was sure, any group led by him won't just idly sit somewhere. And maybe he'll be able to make up for his failures. "Where can I find this squad?"

~ x ~

 _Reshi_ led her through the mountains with grace and certainity of someone who have been here many times and knows every rock. Or has enough confidence to expect every rock to bow to her will. As they were walking, Chellia tried to figure out who her sudden guide was. She had saved her once already, when the Beritra's soldiers attacked her, but now she was taking her directly to him. Why? And how could this _Reshi_ know, she'll come back? Was she able to anticipate Tiamat's actions and the retaliation siege? Did she have some ability to see the future? Or was it just an empty threat to make her afraid?

"And we're here," _Reshi_ stopped, turned to Chellia and smiled. Not far from them was a bridge with group of Balaur guards in front of it. "I'll get us an audience with Beritra, please stay behind me and don't do anything stupid."

"Can you at least tell me why do you think you'll get it?"

"Don't worry, you'll find out soon."

"Oh, come on."

"Yes, come. If you want to save your precious army from Tiamat, you should hurry."

"How do you..."

"You're way too obvious, little one. Now, stop stalling."

They walked the last several meters in silence. As expected, the guards stepped into their way with weapons drawn.

"Halt! What business do you have in here?" one of them shouted.

"What business do I have in here is none of your concern, guard," _Reshi_ replied with natural arrogance. "Your concern should be to take me and my associate inside as honoured guests of the Dragon lord Beritra and inform him of our visit. He's expecting us, I'm sure you don't want to leave him waiting."

At start, the expression on the soldiers face was full of resistance, but as she spoke, it changed into fear and... recognition. Chellia held her breath for a moment. Those Balaur were not only afraid of _Reshi_ , which she would understand, the ice woman was terrifying, but they also knew her. And when they recognised her, their fear increased several times. And then, all of them _bowed_.

"Yes, of course, please follow me. I'll lead you to lord Beritra right away," he turned around and led them across the bridge into the mountain fortress. As they walked through familiar halls, Chellia's stomach twisted with anxiety. _Was this really good idea? No, of course not, but he's the only one who can find the Hyperion._

"Leave us," another well remembered voice ordered the moment they stepped into the main hall and the guard bowed and obeyed as fast as he could without running. The moment the door closed behind him, Beritra's hooded figure appeared in the middle of the hall. "Why are you here, Ereshkigal? And more importantly, how?"

"Ereshkigal?" Chellia squeaked out in shock and almost fainted. _So now I'm stuck with not one Dragon lord, but two?!_

"Surprised, little one?" the ice woman turned towards her. "Now be a good girl and present yourself nicely," something cold pushed her forward, directly between the two of them. "As for your first question, Beritra, I'm bringing you a gift."

"My queen," he came closer and stretched his hand to touch her face. With pure instinct, Chellia pushed it aside.

"Don't touch me," she spat. "Ever. Again. I'm not your puppet anymore."

"Then it will be my pleasure to break you again!" he roared and his arm begun changing.

"Ehm, don't you think it's a bit rude, Beritra? How about taking us to some more pleasant place, where we can sit and have some tea with cookies?" Ereshkigal stopped him. "And it would be wise to not kill this Empyrean scum until you hear what I have to say. She'll be useful."

"Stop speaking in riddles, then. How did you get out of that place and what do you want here?" Beritra turned to his fellow Dragon lord and his arm changed back to match his current form.

"I'm here to offer you a deal, how I got here is part of it. Another part is the Hyperion. Now, please, are we going to discuss it standing here in this cold, unwelcoming hall?" Ereshkigal smiled.

"Very well, I shall hear your offer," he decided. "Follow me, both of you."

He led them to a cold stateroom furnished in Danuar style and immediately summoned servants to light fire in the hearth and bring refreshments according to Ereskigal's wishes. Due to lack of visits, that couldn't be swept off with an order in the main hall, the room wasn't used at all, but it was cleaned regularly, in case the Lord Protector needed it.

"Now, Ereshkigal, tell me about your offer," Beritra said when the servants left.

"And here I thought Tiamat was the impatient one," Ereshkigal shook her head. "Don't worry, I'll tell you. But first, I'm sure you're also interested in what this whelp has to say. Don't be shy, little one and tell us why you sneaked away from Kamar and came here? And you don't need to be afraid talking in front of me. Even if our reasons differ, all three of us want to see Tiamat punished for her actions."

Chellia looked warily at the Dragon lords. She was terrified, there was no way she could get out of this situation alive and unbroken. But she refused to show them that fear. They certainly knew, but it didn't mean they had to see it.

"I know you want vengeance on Tiamat," she started slowly. "All that theatre with _revived Apsu_ had no other purpose than to make her nervous, to nudge her to make mistake. I also know you can't go against her directly, because Fredgion seems to favour her over you. But whether it was your manipulation or her own ambition, she managed to truly unite the Asmodians and the Elyos and they are now attacking her stronghold. But her defences are too good. There is a chance, that isn't small, that they'll fail."

"And why should I care about daevas losing to Tiamat?"

"If there will be no daevas, who is going to kill her? You need us. And I..." Chellia took a deep breath. "I had a lot of time to think about what happened. I know why the Hyperion rejected me and I know how to control it now. Get me back to that place and I'll kill Tiamat for you."

"Do you think me fool?" Beritra rose from his chair. "Did you really think I would give such powerful weapon to the daevas? You might be the most beautiful woman in the world, but say such foolish thing again and your beauty will not save you. Now go to your chambers and wait there, until..."

"I hate to interrupt this lovely moment, but we're here because of some deal, Beritra, aren't we?" Ereshkigal chipped in. "Why don't you sit down and listen for a while more? It's my turn now. And you, little one, would you be so kind and removed your eye-patch?"

They looked at her as if in surprise and after a moment they did what she asked. She was, after all, the Third Dragon lord, rumored to be equal in power with Fredgion himself.

"I did my research about the Hyperion too and it pains me you wasted the opportunity to claim it. The Danuar devices require a specific talent to be manipulated with and your _pet_ has plenty of it, but Hyperion is too dangerous, it has one more requirement, a free will. The Hyperion won't listen a puppet. But now, when we have someone with a talent, who is willing to control it, I can use the hints in her eye to create a portal," the ice lady smiled. "Don't look so surprised, little one, I had some time to look at it, when you took a nap on that road. And you, Beritra, don't worry, I have some ideas how to help you convince her to stay with you."

"Assuming your _ideas_ will work, what do you want in return?"

"You see, I haven't exactly left that place, not completely. And I'm tired of constantly looking for suitable Dragonbound to carry out my will. I want you to set me free. Have you heard of things called _Sealing stones_?"

"No."

"Then broaden your education. Find them and destroy them."

~ x ~

Thanks to Yekkob's teachings during the next several hours, Shien was able to get the cloaked portals under control without letting the aether around her explode. Of course they had to take breaks from spellcasting, which they filled with talking. Shien kept her part of the deal and even if it was extremely uncomfortable for her, she told him about the mad and uncontrollable power of the unison. Yekkob listened with a genuine interest of a researcher and whatever conclusions he made from her description, he tactfully kept them for himself.

The next morning, to lord Kaisinel's surprise, they were among the thirty pairs chosen to create portals for lord Zikel's surprise attack. When their assignment was confirmed, the portal unit used the flight transporters to move west of the stronghold to Notus Outpost, where their operation should begin. Lord Azphel's troops, almost exclusively Asmodians, were gathering underneath them, between the floating island and Edendell valley, ready to attack the gate any moment. Shien could also see the Balaur gathering on the battlements, preparing the defensive means, be it devices and weapons or cauldrons with boiling oil, acid or some drana-based nasty liquid. She guessed the battle will commence within the next few hours.

~ x ~

The Cindercone Outpost was a large cave for the usual a small garrison, but the Elyos army lef by lord Nezekan and lady Ariel wouldn't fit in even if it was halved. The soldiers were gathering and preparing outside, in the heat of Fields of Fire, a burnt area with lava pools east of Tiamat's Stronghold. After Yekkob was summoned for some special task for mages only, Canta stayed with her unit. Along with some other rookies and few seasoned soldiers she was assigned as a backup. She has already befriended most of her unit and now her guts were griping with nervousness, as the reality of the possible deaths slowly fell on her.

After endless hours of waiting lady Ariel finally sent a star into the sky and the attack begun.

~ x ~

Marchutan and Kaisinel watched the east from the petrified lands between the stronghold and ruins of lady Siel's temple. Their army had about the same numbers of Asmodians as they had Elyos, but the Fatebound and Hushblade legions have already leant to work together, as it were them who was stationed in Sarpan and Tiamaranta, after the alliance with Reians was established.

When they saw the exploding light in the sky, they commanded the soldiers to attack. The siege weapons and catapults were fired.

~ x ~

Triniel and her soldiers were already advancing through the shadows and depths of the stronghold sewers. As expected, Tiamat increased the number of guards everywhere, even in here, but those were no problem for the elite assassins from both daevic nations. As they progressed, groups of two or three were splitting from the main force to cover more space and eliminate more enemies. When they almost reached the habitable area, the Lady of Death handed the leadership to her trusted adjutant Sigyn and slipped into shadows herself. Carefully she walked into an octagonal room with column for an elevator in the middle. There was one brown-scaled Balaur standing in front of it, holding a short trident with glowing red tips. Suddenly he moved and waved the trident around. Triniel's head spinned for a moment, but that moment was enough to break her concentration and take her out of the safety of shadows. The Balaur set his eyes on her.


	5. Chapter 05

After few more reports Vaizel's suspicion about involvement of someone from May's household changed into certainity. He had already ordered them to not leave the house and had them watched, but now he had them moved to the cells for temporary arrested. Some of them were complaining, which he didn't care about. Just when he wanted to start interrogating them again, this time more vigorously, one of his assistants brought him a message about arrival of expected _guest_.

The heartbroken former Lepharist Lora was willing to cooperate, she still felt guilt for the events in Jeiaparan village and was more than willing to help with finding out those who caused lady May's death. After brief questioning Vaizel sent her to the cells to identify possible Lepharists, if she remembered them. She took it very seriously and stood few minutes in front of each cell trying to remember. In two cases she wasn't sure, but in most she just shook her head. Then in front of one she froze and turned to Vaizel.

"That's her. The one who convinced me to join them."

When the Empyrean Lord of Freedom looked at the prisoner, she would swear it was a gaze of an Asmodian.

~ x ~

Ereshkigal put his queen to sleep and now she was painting silvery blue ornaments on her body. Beritra was watching this from the other side of the room and calculating what this agreement will bring to him. The Third Dragon lord was still imprisoned, but somehow she was able to send her consciousness and power into a body of capable Dragonbound mage to allow her to move around the world and influence it. Due to her wits and cold nature, even in this form she was more dangerous than Tiamat. And that was reason why he wasn't really interested in freeing her. But breaking a deal with another Dragon lord was unthinkable. He'll have to find a way how to honour it, but at the same time don't let her interfere with his affairs.

"Now I need something that belongs to her," Ereshkigal interrupted his thoughts.

"What for?" he asked, still frowning.

"To finish the spell, of course."

"Could you be bothered by telling me what this spell will do?"

"You became so impatient, it doesn't look like you, Beritra. I wonder _who_ has such influence on you?"

"Stop mocking me and speak clearly, Ereshkigal. What spell are you going to place on her and how can I control it?"

"You just have to control everything, don't you? It's a simple teleportation spell. By binding it to some item of hers, you'll be able to summon her to your side as long as you'll be the one holding the item. Of course, the further she'll be, the more power you'll have to put in. Now, the item. Please."

Without a work Beritra turned to a pile of clothes and weapons his queen had when she arrived. Everything was so simple and not befitting the role she had by his side. He'll have to get rid of this trash and provide her better garments. He picked one of her daggers and handed it to Ereshkigal.

"A dagger? How unoriginal, couldn't you think about handkerchief?" the ice woman smiled and started weaving the spell into the weapon. After few minutes she returned it: "Here. Now all you need is to pour power into the spell and she'll be teleported right in front of you. Should I wake her up now?"

"No, not yet. First tell me what do you need to activate the portal to Hyperion."

~ x ~

She woke up very quickly. That indicated she was under a sleep spell and judging from the fact her muscles were not stiff yet, it wasn't a long one. She was in her bed, in the room she had occupied before her escape from Sillus. And she was naked, her skin was covered with blue and silver symbols she didn't recognise. Few moments after she sat and looked around, a servant entered the room with arms full of clothes.

"Lord Beritra requires your presence," the servant bowed. "I am here to help you with dressing up."

"I don't want to wear that. Where are my clothes?"

"Your old clothes have been thrown away, as lord Beritra ordered. You are expected to wear appropriate clothing."

Chellia sighed and one by one she took the pieces of her new clothes from the servant. When she dressed up and was sitting patiently to let the servant comb her hair _properly_ , she had to admit one thing. Beritra certainly had a good taste in materials. The leather pants and jerkin had an inside layer made of soft fabric and the shoes were sturdy, but comfortable. As expected, everything was black with small blue embroideries. When the servant was happy with the outcome, she led Chellia to the stateroom, where Beritra and Ereshkigal were waiting.

"You look magnificent, my queen," Beritra got up to greet her.

"Where are my clothes?" she asked without reacting to the greeting.

"I've ordered that trash to be thrown away, of course."

"And my weapons?" she didn't give it much chances, but if he's going to torture her again, she'll be as irritating as possible. Beritra said nothing and gestured at a table. Two long daggers and one pistol waited there, all black with pointy blue ornaments. She frowned. "These are not mine."

"You can have these or none."

"Fine," she took the weapons, arranged them on her belt and turned to Ereshkigal: "How long I was asleep? Can you get me to Hyperion? And what are _these marks_ supposed to mean?"

"You're certainly full of questions, little one," Ereshkigal put away her cup of tea and coldly smiled. "About an hour, yes and you don't need to know. I also have news for you. Beritra's spies confirmed the siege has begun, but don't worry, you still have time before the daevas advance enough to actually threaten Tiamat."

"Send me there then."

"You're not going anywhere until _I_ give my consent," Beritra got her attention again. "I am well aware of your current intentions, my queen. Before I shall allow you to get hold on Hyperion, I want your word you shall not use it against me or my subordinates."

"Even if I give you my word, what makes you believe I'll keep it?"

"You knowing I am able to stop any of your attempts in time. And when I do, you shall become my faithful queen again. You will either control the Hyperion for me, or no one will."

"Fine, as you wish, I won't let it attack you or your subordinates. And remember, I won't use it against my people either. So unless you want to wage war with another Dragon lord, don't count on my help."

For few seconds Beritra was silently looking at her, which wasn't comfortable at all. Did she go too far? Was he about to kill her? Did he change his mind about the Hyperion and was about to subdue her? But none of her fears came true and he turned to Ereshkigal.

"Send her to the Hyperion."

"Come closer, little one. And remove that eyepatch, one would think you could learn that. Good. Now stay still for a moment."

Ereshkigal's friendly-scolding tone was irritating, but Chellia knew she couldn't do anything about it, so she just took a deep breath and obeyed her instructions. After several minutes Ereshkigal finished her spell and she appeared in the familiar circular area with two ramps attached to the walls and a huge construct in the middle.

~ x ~

"Portals! Now!" lord Zikel's voice sounded over the Notus Outpost. Thirty pairs of spellcasters started shaping the aether around them.

"Breathe, slowly," Shien heard Yekkob's words and realised she had been holding her breath for a while, which definitely didn't help with her spell's stability. She took a deep breath and concentrated on the flow of aether disturbed by all the mages around. Few minutes later, thirty portals were shining on the floating island. The exits were nowhere to be seen, only weak shimmering of the air above the fortress was hinting that something might be there. The Balaur were focused on the armies behind the walls and didn't seem to notice that.

"Attack!" lord Zikel commanded and jumped through a portal, followed by about a hundred of Asmodians and twenty Elyos. After the last of them passed through, the portals begun closing. They were one-way only and there was no need to maintain them any longer. A split second before she released her spell, Shien has decided. She jumped through the closing portal and appeared above the fortress, above lord Zikel's squad. Right after she spread her wings to slow down the fall, she realised she can't stay in the air for too long, that would make her far too easy target.

She landed on a small terrace and quickly turned her attention to two Balaur, who were running towards her. Few glittering lights right before their eyes and one medium-sized fireball caused one of them to fall over the balustrade, the other was injured and confused enough for her to finish him off with her dagger. Some sorcerers would scorn upon that, but those were the ones who were lost when they ran out of their magic power. She preferred survival over style, this battle wasn't going to end soon and she had to preserve her spells for as long as possible.

With lord Zikel's squad arriving ahead of her, most of the guards, who weren't on the battlements, turned their attention to them and she encountered only small resistnce when she ventured deeper into the fortress. After several minutes she joined a hallway covered by Balaur corpses. They were all killed by a sharp weapon or claws, no magic was involved. Every group always had at least one mage, the lack of any magic injury could mean only one thing. The one who walked through this place was lord Zikel himself. And he hurried so much his soldiers lost sight of him, when they got engaged in battle. She followed the trail of corpses until blast of fire from her left side made her stop. Through a partially broken wall she saw lord Zikel defending himself against massive fire attack. Without hesitation she created a shield around him and pushed the fire aside. Then she had a chance to look at the one he was fighting with. It was a Balaur male wearing a wine-red cloak and brass-coloured helm, wielding an ornate staff with spikes on its head. It took her few seconds to recognize him.

"Lord Zikel!" she shouted when the flames calmed down. "Go find Tiamat, I'll take care of this one!"

"Do you think I can't handle him? And what are you doing here?" the Shedim lord turned angrily at her.

"I know you can handle him," she replied with calm. "But I'm sure if he dies, Tiamat will know it and runs away. And you want her dead, not on the run, right?"

"And you believe you can kill him?" he snorted.

"I can keep him occupied until reinforcements arrive. And give you enough time to find that dragon bitch," she said with faked confidence. "He won't get an opportunity to go after you."

The Lord of Destruction nodded, turned around and continued in his way to find the one responsible for Alia's death. Shien deflected another blast of fire and started gathering her own aether. Few easy fireballs as test of her opponent's defences didn't leave a scratch on him.

"You dare to stand against me?" he bellowed and threw concentrated almost white flame at her. "You puny little worm, I'll burn you alive and catch your pitiful lord in no time!"

Shien evaded it, her shields wouldn't be much use, and even though the attack missed, she felt the intense heat from it. She reached into her belt pocket and quickly ate one of her aether-jelly candies, while evading another white flame.

"I guess they don't call you _Pyrelord_ for nothing," she muttered. The instant surge of aether from the candy enabled her to create two rotating fire serpents and threw them at him. He didn't bother to do anything about them, so he was surprised when they hit and caused him minor burns.

"Is this all you've got?"

~ x ~

The east gate was breached. Ariel stood on a hill near the Cindercone Outpost and watched her army slowly marching forward. The gate was gone, but it didn't mean the path was free. There were still Balaur on the battlements and inside the fortress. She prayed to Aion and cast an aura of light around her soldiers on the battlefield. It healed smaller injuries, boosted morale and removed fatigue. Few moments later she noticed it had no effect on the few groups of Asmodians, who were among the soldiers. She frowned, this was her basic spell, it shouldn't have failed like this.

~ x ~

Empowered by lady Ariel's spell, several of Nezekan's groups secured the gate and the army slowly moved forward into the outer circle of the Stronghold. The Balaur resistance only intesified and the advance was halted by no one else than the newly appointed general Anuhart himeself, who stood up at the front lines. His wide, effective and fearsome attacks caused temporary panic among the Elyos soldiers, their shields and armour were all but useles against the storm of his blades. Except one. Time stood still for a moment when his sword was stopped by Izith, a shield one of the kind, held by lord Nezekan.

~ x ~

Yekkob unbelievably stared at the closing portal, where his companion has disappeared and let out several uncomplimentary words about reckless students. Then he followed his orders and joined the main body of the western army, who has just broke the gate and pressed forward. Some fresh archers appeared on the battlements, so he cast a small mind spell to make them to either fight among themselves or running around in panic and falling off the battlements. He couldn't do more, as the advance of the army pushed him through the gate and he had to focus on the enemies more ahead. With a corner of his eye he glimpsed a flash of red light and instinctively moved aside, bumping into other soldiers. The beam pierced through everything next to him and left only ashes in place, where soldiers hit by it once stood. The commanders suddenly had trouble with keeping their troops from panicking. Yekkob disposed of another Balaur and looked for signs of where that beam came from. On the other side of the open space behind the gate there was a large metal device, that looked like it could be a part of Dredgion. One purple Balaur with two thick upright horns was operating it and several more usual ones stood on guard. From the energies flowing around the device it seemed like it needed some time to recharge before firing again.

A shadow moved swiftly through the battlefield and a large black ball surrounded the device. The operating Balaur shrieked, as the weapon imploded and her guards fell dead, pierced by shadow spikes.

~ x ~

When the combined efforts of Marchutan's and Kaisinel's troops finally caused the southern gate to fall, the Balaur didn't wait and skeletal warriors led by general Laksyaka charged at the daevas from the Elyos side, while lieutenant Shabokan stood in the gate ruins and with his heavy polearm he blocked the daevas from entering. Marchutan ordered the Asmodians to fall back and focus on eliminating the defenders on the battlements and stepped forward to attack the gatekeeper himself.

Kaisinel unleashed series of mental attacks at the approaching mass, but they weren't exactly living creatures, so it had only a little effect on them. Without hesitation he bound them with hundreds of tiny roots and then summoned a huge earth elemental to help his soldiers to deal with them. Just in time he focused on their leader and created a glittering aether shield to block his attack.

~ x ~

The place was as quiet as she remembered it. When Chellia descended to the control panel, she shivered. The memories from her last visit were still sharp and she knew the cost of a second attempt to activate the Hyperion should the weapon find her unworthy. But Tiamat had to be defeated. She had to help with that. She couldn't just stand aside and watch everyone else putting their lives on the line.

She placed her hands on the control panel and familiar consciousness touched her mind.

~ x ~

Her nausea vanished almost instantly and since she was already noticed, Triniel decided to attack. The Balaur parried her attack, jumped few steps back and quickly cast another spell and Triniel, running towards him, felt her body slow down and then speed up so suddenly, that her attack missed. She took a good look at the Balaur. A lot of them looked similar, but never the same and she was sure she should know this one. Of course, Kumbanda, a Tiamat's officer, who has betrayed her, when he tried to take Siel's relics for himself. And due to his talent for spellcasting and holding them for so long, until the Dragon lord has finally captured him, he developed a limited ability to control time.

Once she remembered everything her spies have gathered about her opponent's ablilities and behaviour, it wasn't too difficult to create a strategy against him. Sure, her tactics usually consisted in precise timing of her attacks, so his time changins spells were annoying and could be fatal if she was careless, but he got that ability from from the relics, not from Aion or Siel herself. The extent of his power was far too inferior to the Lady of Time. And she wouldn't be able to keep her title of Lady of Death if she couldn't improvise.

She threw one dagger at him and leaped into the shadows. To hide this quickly and this deep was too aether consuming, but in order to get closer to him without letting him know where was she coming from, it was necessary.

In the world of shadows she danced between traps on the floor she could now see well. They were changing their sizes and positions, but slowly enough for her to adjust her path. She emerged from the shadows right behind him and thrust her dagger between the plates of his armour, breaking his spine. During his last moments he unleashed all the energy he could and exploded into myriads of little spheres altering the flow of time. This time Triniel wasn't fast enough and when each part of her body experienced different time speed, she shrieked in agony.

~ x ~

There was fire everywhere around and even the stone floor seemed to be burning. A pressure wave spell threw Shien across the room and even though all her body hurt, she slowly got up. The blood flowing from a fresh cut on her forehead dried almost instantly. She focused her sight back on the Balaur general and tried to remember any spell that would be useful in this situation. She has already tried to use fire and earth spells against him, the elements she was strongest with, but she could only give him few scratches here and there, while he managed to burn away large parts of her dress, half of her hair and cause many painful blisters and cuts on her skin without any larger effort. Unfortunately her elements were the same as his and he was much better spellcaster. She knew she couldn't win this fight, but she didn't want to die yet.

 _Where the hell are those reinforcements? This place is not_ that _big!_

She wasn't sure how long they were fighting, but to her it seemed like infinity. She saw another flame wave coming and formed an aether shield to block it. But the fire passed through with more than half of its intensity kept. She fell to her knees, her powers almost drained. The floor was hot and was burning her skin, but she could barely discern that pain from everything else. A shadow fell over her and a strong hand caught her neck, forcing her to stand up.

~ x ~

Nezekan blocked another attack and studied his opponent. During the initial few blows they exchanged, the nearest soldiers backed away and gave them enough space for a duel, but he didn't let that to lull him. Even though he was focused on Anuhart, part of his attention always belonged to his surroundings. A spectacular duel like this could be a great opportunity for any archer or mage to strike down the enemy commander.

Anuhart's attacks were flashy and deadly against crowd, but with so much free space around them Nezekan managed to keep him away from his people. Should it be a normal duel in arena, he would have chosen to wait for the Balaur to get tired, but in this battle he had to end it as soon as possible. It wasn't his favourite style of fight, but during the millenia since his Ascension he has learnt more than just one. He waited for Anuhart to start with his flashiest attack, that until now has forced him to defense. During this attack the Balaur relied on his speed and momentum and sharpness of the blade, there were few moment when he barely held the hilt. And one such moment was exactly what Nezekan needed. He broke the shield stance earlier than usual and, not paying attention to ijuries he got, waved his sword. The silvery aether rope from its end coiled around the Balaur blade. Nezekan strenghtened the grip and yanked the weapon aside, sending Anuhart's sword towards the fortress's outer wall. The surprise in the Balaur commander didn't last long and he attacked the Empyrean lord with his massive claws.

Nezekan didn't prepare any defense and simply hit him hard with the shield. And again. And again. When Anuhart stumbled and fell, the Lord of Justice poured aether into his blade and pierced the Balaur commander's heart.

~ x ~

The mind spells didn't seem to work on the general of the dead. Whether it was because of a special training or some protective device, Kaisinel didn't know and he didn't care. It was a real annoyance and he wanted to get rid of him soon, but since half on his spells didn't work, his opponent was still able to fight and didn't give him an opportunity to concentrate on anything more complex.

Marchutan wasn't doing much better. His attacks were landing, but even if imbued with mantras and spells, his staff didn't do much damage against the gatekeper's armour. He had no problem parrying strikes of Shabokan's polearm, but that would be enough if he was the defending party. For a moment, he allowed himself one look across the battlefield and noticed Kaisinel's struggle.

"Destiny demands it, the fortress must fall," he muttered to himself and absorbed larger amount of aether than he needed until now. He hit the ground with the staff now glowing and the gatekeeper stumbled few steps back. Then Marchutan summoned three aetheric discs, each with two blades, combined them and sent the rotating star at Laksyaka. The Balaur general noticed the attack from behind a split second too late.

When Kaisinel saw his opponent getting torn by the aetheric disc, he looked at his fellow Empyrean lord in surprise. Then he noticed already recovered Shabokan and cast a fear spell at him. This time it worked and the gatekeeper stopped in his movement. His armour was excellent against physical attacks, but against the wild rage unleashed by the Lord of Illusions it wasn't better than paper.

~ x ~

Lord Azphel stepped from shadows and with disregard looked over the broken light cannon, before shifting his gaze to the scantily clad Balaur who used to be operating it. While the brigade general Terath was spitting insults and curses, he swiftly drew his jet black blade and disposed of a Balaur assassin trying to get him from behind. That got him Terath's full attention. She shrieked and under his feet she conjured a circle, darker than even he has seen. With increasing rate it was consuming the aether around. Without blinking and seemingly also without effort Azphel stepped out of it into safer distance before it imploded. At that moment the ground tile he was standing on started glowing and radiated energy that made him feel weaker. Another high ranked Balaur stepped into his view. He was dressed in red and gold robe with hood covering most of his face and he held gold staff with torch-like head, which glowed red.

Azphel stamped, shattering the tile and unfurled his darker-than-black wings. As he flew up, he was creating shadows to engulf the two Dredgion generals, who started shouting panicked orders in attempt to stop him. Once he was in the air, which they didn't presume he'd have enough aether for, their ground based attacks were useless against him and after he destroyed the light weapon, they didn't have much else to use. Before anyone could react, he darted towards them and separated their heads from their bodies with two precise slashes of his sword imbued with shadows.

~ x ~

Another Balaur guard fell under his sword, but for Zikel it was still not enough. He wanted all of them dead. And Tiamat the most. He knew he was closing their distance, but the Fifth Dragon Lord still wasn't lying dead under his feet. That was the only thing he could think about. He easily killed another guard and kicked a door leading into a large hall. Tiamat was standing there, preparing some device. Was it for attack or to run away? Zikel didn't care. He roared, letting his fury to fill him and charged at her.

~ x ~

"My lady," general of the Miragen't Holy Templars has bowed. "We've got reports, that the eastern army has run into trouble with Balaur commanding officer Anuhart. Lord Nezekan has defeated him and we're able to continue forward. We've also received similar reports from other battlefields, lord Kaisinel and lord Marchutan have encountered generals Laksyaka and Shabokan and defeated them as well. Lord Azphel has dealt with generals Terath and Chantra. The Balaur morale is decreasing, we have fairly good chance to win this battle. Unfortunately, we don't have any reports about lady Triniel or lord Zikel."

"Thank you, Lavirintos," Ariel turned her gaze from the fortress and looked at him. "Tell me, deep down in your heart, do you consider the Asmodians as allies?"

"That is very strange question, my lady. I understand the truce with them and I agree with the reasons that led to it, but I still cannot forgive them the centuries of war and killing," the general replied. "But regardless of my feelings, I will fight by their side, as long as this truce lasts."

"Thank you for your honesty, I'm afraid I feel the same."

"That is nothing to be ashamed of, my lady."

"Do you know the main difference between me and Azphel? He hones and uses his skills with reason and cold logic, his ideal is perfection. I went different path, I learnt to channel my powers through my feelings. The stronger the feelings, the stronger my spells are. And right now, my feelings for the Balaur and especially Tiamat would fuel a blast across the whole stronghold."

"Are you worried the Asmodians could get caught in it?"

"Yes. This truce is still too fragile to risk it."

"If I may suggest something, my lady," Lavirintos started and when Ariel nodded, he said: "From the time before the Cataclysm, I remember you were good friends with lady Lumiel. I know her choice on the council with the Dragon lords was shocking, but I'm sure you have some good memories with her. Could they help you with the spell?"

Ariel took her time before responding: "Thank you, Lavirintos. You can leave. Please keep informing me of anything important."

"As you wish, my lady," the general bowed and left.

 _Lumiel... Yes, we used to be friends. But since the truce was declared, as if we've been avoiding each other. We'll need to talk, once this is over._

She closed her eyes and concentrated on her spell. For several long minutes she tried to settle her emotions down to fuel the spell properly.

 _We should not wage war with the Asmodians._ Suddenly she remembered a discussion she had long time ago with Yustiel. _It is wrong. Now I know the Balaur will never want peace with us, unless we end up as their slaves, but the Asmodians... I really miss them. I would give everything if it meant peace._

Tears entered her eyes and she didn't try to suppress them.

 _You were right. I miss them too. And also you._

She clasped her hands together and the brightest light anyone has ever seen erupted from her in all directions, completely emgulfing the stronghold and nearby landscape.


	6. Chapter 06

Chellia's fingers ran across the control panel led by her intuition. She wasn't dead yet, which meant the Hyperion found her worthy, so all that was left now was activating it. There wasn't much time, but she forced herself to calm down, rushing things here would be really bad. As she explored the Hyperion's inner world, again she was amazed by the cleverness of the ancient Danuar. The weapon was just all but perfect. When the activation sequence was complete, she felt agreement of the consciousness sitting right next to her mind and one panel on the wall slid aside and revealed a key. Chellia carefully took it, it was cold and heavy, twice as long as her palm and it hummed with energy. She inspected the faintly glowing inscriptions on it only to find out it was in a script she didn't understand.

"Hm, how do I get to Tiamat now?" she muttered. In answer the Hyperion shuffled its feet and clapped its hands. "Oh, you know?"

~ x ~

Before he could reach his target, several groups of Balaur guards dropped their cloaking spell and blocked Zikel's way, attacking him from all sides. They wouldn't stand a chance against him in smaller groups, but the sheer number of them was really annoying, like that they were able to keep him away from his revenge. Within few minutes he has killed about ten of them, but still more than that stood between him and the Dragon lady, who used the time when he was occupied by her guards to shapeshift. The device behind her started moving its parts and gather enegry. Suddenly bright light filled the room and blinded him. He expected to be attacked, but nothing happened. When the visibility returned to normal, he noticed all the Balaur were stunned and dazed and could barely stand. Tiamat, although much less weakened, was in the same condition. The device behind her was still running, nothing has changed on it, so he guessed it didn't cause the light. He decided the best course of action would be to kill the guards, while they're incapable of fight and then deal with Tiamat. However before he could reduce their number to half, he heard a thud behind him, as if some creature fell on the floor.

"Uh, what just happened?" a young, confused voice said. That stopped him from attacking again, he looked around, saw that Triniel's brat getting up from the floor, and quickly turned his attention back to the dragon and her guards, expecting attack.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" he snapped. "Don't you know this place isn't for kids?"

"I'm a daeva already and I want to help," Chellia replied.

"Did you make that light?"

"Uh, what light?"

"You, _again_?" Tiamat sounded amused, when her disorientation faded and she noticed the girl. She laughed and spewed out fire at them. Zikel dashed towards Chellia, grabbed her and tried to evade the flames. Due to carrying the extra weight he wasn't as fast as he needed and he got few minor burns. When Tiamat inhaled to prepare for another breath of fire, he put the girl down, unharmed.

"Get lost, I don't have time to watch over you," he said and sliced a guard who already wore off the effect of the mysterious light.

"I'll take care of that thing," Chellia called at him and stepped into shadows.

"Stupid brat," he muttered to himself, while killing another guard and evading flames. Tiamat didn't seem to care whom she's going to hit with her attacks and her own Balaur took quite a lot of collateral damage. _Triniel's going to skin me alive, if something happens to her._

Finally all the guards were dead or incapacitated and the only thing preventing him from fully concentrating on Tiamat, was the Young Lady, who was still somewhere aroung here, although he couldn't say where. _Dammit, what was Triniel thinking... sending a kid here._

"Open..." the girl's voice echoed the hall somewhat changed, "the gate to..." the shadows around her dispersed, she was standing behind the device, holding a glowing key, "Shard of Infinity..." a lens-shaped portal opened at the key's tip. "Hyperion!"

~ x ~

She never thought it would be easy, but the amount of energy required for summoning the ancient Danuar weapon was several times higher than she expected. She felt as if her whole arm was about to fall apart any moment. Finally the call was complete and the Hyperion stepped out of the portal.

"Hyperion, charge the cannon," she said and looked around. Both, lord Zikel and Tiamat were staring at her in disbelief. She shifted her gaze to the device, that was still gathering enegry, and ordered: "Hyperion, fire."

The construct obeyed her instantly, their minds were linked, so it knew what to fire at. The verbal commands were a fail-safe the Danuar placed into the weapon against accidental firing. Once she gave the command, the circle on Hyperion's chest glowed and an energy beam shot out of it, hitting Tiamat's device. That exploded, Zikel and Tiamat were pushed away with the pressure wave, but the Hyperion automatically created a shield around itself and Chellia and they stood in place.

~ x ~

The Elyos group led by Wolf, although his subordinates called him with his official name Geralt, was slowly advancing through the fortress. The Balaur were organized, but they didn't expect a direct assault from their midst. In their surprise some of them unknowingly spread panic about possible defeat of the forces outside, making the attackers' job easier. Not easy, though. But Wolf, as member of Miragent legion, was fairly experienced in sieges and led his group steadily through the hallways, checking every room and eliminating every Balaur in sight.

When they reached another intersection, despite of all the battle noises that carried through the fortress, they heard a shriek that made the blood in their veins stand still for a moment. It was full of pain and despair and it definitely didn't sound like a Balaur.

"Where did it came from?" Wolf turned to the sorcerer in his group. "Are some daevas who need help around?"

The sorcerer extended his hands and focused on the flow of Aether.

"I can't sense the other groups, but there's something weird this way," he pointed into one of the ways.

"How weird? A Balaur ambush?"

"More like a battle. There's too much disturbance to tell."

"Let's go," Wolf ordered, adjusted grip on his greatsword and rushed forth, his group was following. After two corners they ran into a large hall, almost destroyed by a battle. The air temperature rose as they passed ruined door. They could only see a huge Balaur standing on the other side, holding someone in his hand. Then they became engulfed in bright light. At first they got frightned, but soon they realised the light removed their fatigue and empowered them a bit. When it dispersed, the Balaur still stood there, but looked dazed and the body he was holding, fell from his grasp to the ground.

"Thomzi, watch our back!" Wolf ordered to the group's ranger. "Others, with me! Valdaris, you'll take care of that fallen one!"

The templar let out a war cry and ran across the hall to attack the Balaur. As he was nearing his target, he could notice signs of an exhausting battle; burnt and torn robes, several wounds and really angry expression. The Balaur might have won that fight, but his opponent, whoever it was, has given him tough time.

Wolf stopped, realising he couldn't start the fight so close to an unconscious and possibly dying person. He waved his greatsword and glittering aetheric rope coiled around the Balaur. He pulled, but his enemy was too strong and moved only quarter of their distance, before he broke the rope. The templar didn't wait and attacked, hoping the cleric would be able to get get to the wounded person and retreat to safety. As the Balaur parried the blow, Wolf noticed the specific shape of his staff. A staff, he has been forced to memorise, as it was one of the most known identification objects. Then he noticed other signs he missed before. Sudden realisation of the identity of his foe made him waver. _This is really an unlucky day._ That moment of hesitation cost him dearly, Tahabata hit him with the staff and pushed him few meters back. Then he did what Wolf was trying to prevent, conjured firestorm and sent it to the whole hall. Wolf braced himself against it, knowing there wasn't much he could do, but just before he was hit, a blue-white shield glittered around him and the fire felt as hot as an afternoon tea.

"Phew, don't do this to me," the group's chantress held her staff anxiously and maintained the spell on everyone around even after the fire disappeared.

"Good job, Nonni," Wolf nodded.

"Hey! There's some patrol coming in!" the ranger, who stood on the watch, called.

"Go assist Thomzi," Wolf ordered and turned back to Tahabata, who was now occupied by the sorcerer's blizzard spell and appeared to be casting something. "Hey! Look here, you dumbface!" he shouted at the Balaur general and caught his hand into another aether rope. Again, he didn't move him much, but for breaking his concentration it was enough. _Where did Sorea go?_ As that thought appeared in his mind, he noticed a swift movement behind Tahabata. An Elyos assassin landed on the Balaur's back, burying her daggers into his neck. After few moments of struggling, they fell backwards, the assassing just barely escaping from being crushed by the large body.

"Make sure he won't get up!" the group leader ordered and ran towards the ranger and chantress, who had trouble on their own. The patrol was surprisingly competent. When Wolf reached them, one Balaur just broke Nonni's defences and struck her with a heavy club, making her fall. Even through the sounds of battle Wolf heard the bone cracking. He shouted with rage and stabbed the Balaur's chest, a moment later he had to defend himself from an attack of another one.

After several long moments, when even the sorcerer has joined the fray, all the Balaur were dead and the Elyos could tend their wounded. Wolf and Thomzi carefully carried Nonni towards the cleric, who was stabilising the unknown person. The chantress was conscious and with her worst wound being a broken arm, she tried to ease the pain with a small healing spell.

"Was this really Tahabata? I thought he was stronger," Sorea, who was almost unharmed, cut off the Balaur general's head as a trophy for her legion.

"He was already injured and possibly exhausted," Wolf pointed out. "Valdaris, how's it looking?" he noticed the person was an Asmodian female, but because of her injuries he couldn't identify her. She had wounds all over her body and her eyes, along with the upper part of her face, were terribly burnt. "Will she live?"

"Yes, she's stabilised for now. But if she awakes, she'll probably die from the pain alone," the cleric replied. "What do you want to do with a half dead furback anyway?"

"The _furbacks_ are now our allies, we can't leave her here. Ceramo can you summon portal to one of the camps or to Rancora?"

"You mean, I'll create portal and then we'll throw her through?" the sorcerer sneered. "Sure, no problem, I'm bound in Cindercone Outpost."

"Nonni will take her there."

"What? But Geralt, I can still fight!" the chantress protested.

"With one arm?"

"Valdaris can heal me, right?"

"You're a healer yourself, Nonni, you should know that if I fully healed that broken bone, we both would end up exhausted. And we're not in a situation where we could afford being exhausted. I can bind it and make it hurt less, maybe speed up the healing a bit, but it still needs time to heal naturally."

"See? If you bind it, I can at least support you with shields and healing spells," she didn't want to give up.

"I know. But we can't leave this woman here and we can't take her with us. Plus we have to report that Tahabata has been killed. You can rejoin the battle from outside of the fortress, after you inform the officers of our advance."

"Fine," she looked angrily at the unconscious woman. "Is that... what is _she_ doing here?"

"You know her?" everyone looked surprised.

"She was in the Beacon for a few months, we called her _portal girl_ , I forgot her name. She's really an insufferable person. But to be burnt like this... Even I feel sorry for her."

"Good, at least she'll have someone familiar around," Wolf closed the topic. "Ceramo, cast a sleeping spell on her, just to be sure she doesn't wake up early. Then the portal, please. We still have a fortress to clear."

~ x ~

Tiamat was angry. Although she has prepared for the siege and all her traps were in place, that little whelp somehow beat her in gaining control over the Hyperion and everything fell into pieces. She has expected her guards to die, they were there just to stall the attackers for long enough for her to transform. But she didn't expect the Hyperion. She was supposed to be victorious!

She noticed the Empyrean lord moving, so she spat some flames to stop him, but he evaded them and caused her deep wound on her left front leg. She roared and attacked him with her wing. With some difficulties he blocked it, but was pushed back, which she used to throwing more fire at him.

"Hyperion, charge the cannon," through the flames she barely heard the young daeva's voice. The Dragon lady looked up only to see the huge blue-glowing construct turned towards her. A moment later she felt sharp pain in her belly. The Lord of Destruction has used her distraction and quickly attacked.

"I'll take you down with me!" Tiamat yelled and swung her injured leg to bury the puny lord under her.

"Hyperion, fire!"

~ x ~

When Tiamat stepped on him with her paw, she has actually saved his life. Just as he fell down, a powerful beam hit the dragon. Zikel turned his face to the floor and covered his head with his arms, but that didn't help much. Even though he focused all the aether he had left for defending himself against it, the heat was too intense. Suddenly it stopped and what was left from the dragon collapsed on him. With so much mass pinning him to the ground he had difficulties to breathe. Moments later the weight disappeared and he saw the automaton lifting the dead meat and tossing it aside.

"Are you alright?" he heard the girl's worried voice and she crouched in front of him to help him stand. "I'm so sorry, I thought I aimed high enough to not hit you. Do you hear me? Are you alright? Can you walk?"

He slowly got up and glimpsed at the dragon's corpse. The upper half of the body was just gone, the rest was burnt to crisp. Several walls behind her had a big same-sized hole in them. He looked around to find his sword. It wasn't far, so he checked it for damage and when he deemed it usable, he turned to the girl.

"I'm fine. If I was hit by that, you would have no one to talk to now," he replied. "What is that thing?"

"That's Hyperion, don't worry, it listens to me," she smiled a bit culpably and walked to the ancient machine. "You can go now, thank you for your help," she said. The construct opened portal almost the same as the one before and stepped through it.

"There are still hordes of Balaur around," Zikel grunted. If she's not guarded by that invincible thing, he'll have to watch over her. Which was annoying as hell.

"I know, but... it takes too much energy, I can barely stand."

"Shouldn't it move by itself or something?"

"Oh, believe me it does. If I had to power it, I'd be dead by now. Drained. But I have to control it somehow."

"Whatever. What are you even doing here? You were not in my squad."

"Hyperion took me here, when I activated it. And you're welcome, that dragon bitch was about to blow something up. And I'm sure you wouldn't like it. But that doesn't matter now," Chellia took a deep breath. "Listen, I don't know how much time I have, so..."

"Does Triniel even know you're here?" Zikel looked at her with suspicion.

"Oh, come on, you can't be seriously asking me that now! Beritra is plotting something with Ereshkigal and your biggest concern is if my mom controls me enough?"

"What? How do you..."

"Shut up, please, it's important! They want to find something called _Sealing stones_ and destroy them. I don't know what that is, but tell my mom, she'll send spies to find out. Ereshkigal is..."

"What are you doing?"

"What?" Chellia looked at her hands and saw the tattoos faintly glowing. At the same time her skin started to itch. "Oh no! Oh no!" she looked at Zikel with panic and tears in her eyes. "Please tell my parents I'm sorry," she sobbed. "And... and tell them... tell them I love..."

Before she could finish the sentence, she was gone.

"Hey! Kid!" Zikel shouted, but he got no response. Several groups of guards ran into the hall and stared in shock on the dead body of their ruler. And the one who in their eyes caused her demise. Part of them wanted to run away in panic, but several of the more capable ones shouted something about vengeance, which motivated them to attack Zikel. The Lord of Destruction dismissed the thoughts about the girl, let out a battle cry and charged at the Balaur.

~ x ~

"...them," all of sudden instead of Zikel, Chellia saw Beritra in front of her. She blinked few times and wiped her tears, along with her make-up. "Tiamat is dead," she said coldly and looked around. They were in her old room in Sillus fortress. "Where's Ereshkigal?"

"She's minding her own business. But you, my queen," he smiled and surprisingly gently touched her cheek. "You have brought me excelent news. We should celebrate."

"Don't touch me!" Chellia brushed his hand aside and made few steps back. "Don't you dare to touch me!"

"Very well, my queen," to her surprise Beritra turned around and walked to the door. "I shall leave you in solitude, so you can recover from the battle. But do not be mistaken, you still have duties as my queen and you shall heed them."

Chellia watched him leave, unable to hide her fear, and when the door closed behind him, she heavily sat on the floor. Her legs couldn't carry her anymore.

"What have I done?" she whispered to herself and more tears burst from her eyes.

~ x ~

Hours and hours of battle went by and Canta, although exhausted, knelt beside another wounded person. With shaking hands she drew soothing tones from her harp to ease his pain, close the worst wounds and put him to sleep, until some fresh cleric can look at him. At this moment it was all she could do. As part of the backup forces she was spared from the worst fights, but what she saw during the battle was enough. She almost broke at some point, but someone helped her to hold herself together by shaking her and slapping her cheek. Was it her commander? Or someone else? She didn't remember. Since then she was able to perform tasks she was ordered to do, but she felt nothing. Occasionally pain from wounds here and there, but no emotions. Emotions were an obstacle now, she had to focus. _Get up. Go to next one. Heal what you can. Get up..._

"Canta!" her centurion called and gestured her to come to him.

"Yes?"

"Go to that tent, they'll give you food and water. You'll have half an hour of rest now," he said.

"But... the wounded..."

"That's an order. Half an hour of rest, then you'll return to tending the wounded."

"As you command," she mumbled and followed the order. She filled her field cup with water, picked up rations and once she found a place to sit, she started eating. It was tasteless and she didn't mind, she mechanically ate it without even inspecting what it was. Then she checked her body for injuries, she remembered being hit few times, but now she couldn't find anything more than light bruises and cuts, along with few scars from wounds healed too quickly. _Who healed me?_ She looked at her necklace. The gemstone on the pendant was cracked, that meant the healing spell in it was already depleted. _When did that come off?_

"Canta?"

She looked up. A blonde woman with bandaged arm immobilised and fixated to her chest clumsily sat next to her. She looked tired and her armour and skin were full of dirt and blood stains.

"Nonni? You're here too?"

"Yes, unfortunately," the chantress grunted and tried to unpack her food, which wasn't easy with one arm.

"Let me help you."

"Thanks," she took few bites, staring at the ground in front of them.

"When the Balaur were attacking the Beacon, it was never this... horrible," Canta broke the silence after few moments.

"It's the same, the dead, the injured, the broken, all of it is in every battle. This one is just bigger," Nonni shook her head. "For the lucky ones it will fade away in time. For the less lucky ones... some of them will accept their fate, some of them won't. I'm sure you'll be smiling and singing in few months again. Your friend, though..."

"My friend?" Canta looked at her with surprise. _Did something happen to Yekkob?_

"We found her really badly injured. Even the clerics said it was miracle she survived. Those burns... I barely recognised her. She'll live, but she will never see again."

" _She_? Who are you talking about?"

"The _portal girl_. I'm sorry, I forgot her name."

"What?! Shien was here?" Canta yelped. "And she's... oh no, oh no, that's... where is she?"

"She was teleported to Kamar, taken to the healing house. Only the most injured go there, so yeah, it's bad. But they'll take care of her there."

"I have to see her!" the songweaver got up.

"Don't," Nonni caught her clothes to stop her. "The healers have their hands full already, you can't do anything for her now. But you can do something for the people here. You'll see her later."

"You're... right," Canta sighed. "She's in good hands now. I have to stay here and help..."

~ x ~

After the battle was over, the Empyrean lords gathered in Rancora fortress to discuss the next steps. After the death of Tiamat and her generals, several groups of Balaur have surrendered instead of running towards their deaths and the daevas had to decide what to do with them. Setting them free was not an option. Some wanted to kill them all, others preferred to close them into prison. Due to heavy losses and many injured soldiers, the second option seemed less favorable, especially with the threat of Beritra lurking in Katalam, but the final word had to come from the Empyrean lords. Another matter to decide was what to do with the newly gained fortress and the treasures found there. And sending soldiers to their home posts to return the defences where they were taken from was no less important.

As Kahrun expected, the debate has turned into completely different direction soon after it started.

"We were lucky Zikel killed Tiamat so soon," Nezekan said with appreciation. "The Balaur lost their will after that, which saved many of our lives."

"It wasn't me who killed her," Zikel shook his head. "It was that kid of yours. Why the hell did you keep secrets about her and the Hyperion anyway? We could have used it more efficiently."

"Zikel, you're saying nonsense," Triniel scowled. She looked more tired than others and she had few strands of her hair coloured in grey. "Chellia stayed in Kamar and we definitely didn't get access to the Hyperion. It would be in the attack plans if we did."

"Do you think I'm an idiot, Triniel? I know what I've seen. When I was fighting Tiamat's guards, that brat appeared there, summoned the Hyperion, killed Tiamat and teleported away."

"Lord Zikel," Kahrun stepped in. "Are you certain that the person you saw was Chellia?"

"Yes."

"Then please tell us everything what happened there," the Reian leader asked him.

"When I found Tiamat, she was operating some device," Zikel started. "I had to fight through her guards and then that light appeared. It empowered me and weakened the Balaur. Did you see it too?"

"It was my spell," Ariel admitted. "I believe it hit the whole battlefield."

"Ah, good. Some moment after the light went off, that b... Chellia appeared there. I don't know how, I was still fighting when I saw her. I told her to get out, but she refused. She said she'll take care of that device and hid in shadows. Tiamat changed to a dragon and killed her own guards and I attacked her. During our fight Chellia summoned the Hyperion and destroyed that device with it. Then she commanded it to attack Tiamat and, well, some of you saw what was left of her."

"What happened to Chellia? How did she get out?"

"She said..." Zikel frowned, searching through his memory. "She said that Beritra is working with Ereshkigal, they're after some stones... _Sealing stones_ , but didn't say what it was. Then her tattoos started glowing and she disappeared."

"Tattoos? But Chellia doesn't have tattoos!" Triniel protested.

"I know what I saw," Zikel repeated. "And I saw blue tattoos all over her body. They were glowing even through her clothes. She asked me to tell you she's sorry, but didn't say for what."

"That damn idiot!" Kahrun got up and angrily hit the table. "I should have chained her in a dungeon! She was so desperate to help, to control the Hyperion, I should have known she'll go to Beritra!"

The Empyrean lords looked at him in surprise.

"Please calm down," Nezekan said. "There might be an explanation, maybe she still is in Kamar..."

"Stop being in denial. Isn't it obvious now? How else would she _get_ to the Hyperion? How else would she _know_ that he's working with Ereshkigal and what they're after? I have already received message she's nowhere to be found in the palace, I didn't have time to deal with it, because of the siege. We have to assume the worst."

Silence fell on the council room. The biggest threat remained unspoken, but everyone knew what it meant. If Beritra has Chellia, he also has control over the Hyperion. And it's only a matter of time before he uses it.

* * *

 **Author's confession:**

 _Yes, I was really, really, really tempted to let Chellia say: "Hyperion, I choose you!"_

 _Ooops. :D_


End file.
